PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Williamsport Sun-Gazette [Williamsport PA]
October 18, 2023
By Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Gov. Josh Shapiro scored a lot of his political clout in one arena — the idea that sexual abuse allegations need to be taken seriously.
As Pennsylvania’s attorney general, Shapiro stood with adult victims of child sex abuse as he unveiled a statewide grand jury’s report. He detailed decades of abuses within the Catholic Church and challenged the state’s bishops to respond with change.
“Stand up today and announce your support for these common-sense reforms. That’s the test that will determine whether things have really changed or if it will just be business as usual when the dust settles,” he said.
It was a gauntlet that needed to be thrown down. Shapiro was right to issue his challenge.
Five years later, do those words come back to him?
On Sept. 27, Shapiro’s secretary of legislative affairs, Mike Vereb, submitted his resignation. It comes four months after a May 26 complaint was filed with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission claiming Vereb sexually harassed another member of the administration.
A Shapiro spokesman said the administration would not comment on personnel matters but takes such accusations seriously.
If that is true, the governor has an opportunity to demonstrate exactly how he feels an organization should respond to claims of sexual harassment, assault or other mistreatment.
He did not publicly call on Vereb to resign. That follows the pattern he set with then-Democratic legislator Mike Zabel when he was likewise accused in March. Like Vereb, Zabel ultimately did resign. The House of Representatives isn’t answerable to the governor, but as his party’s top state official, there’s still an element of leadership.
In a statement last week, state Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward, R-Hempfield, criticized Shapiro’s handling of the situation.
“The alleged offender remained in his influential role until he tendered his resignation, leaving the victim in an unsafe space, to fend for herself, with limited options. This is unacceptable,” Ward said.
Should Shapiro have openly called for his employee’s resignation? Should he have actually fired him? Should there have been a wait for the process to play out? It’s a tricky question because the commission’s investigations are a rather opaque process that might end in an issue being settled or otherwise resolved with no information released.
That lack of transparency is the kind of thing the Catholic Church sex abuse grand jury judged harshly, saying, “We can’t charge most of the culprits. What we can do is tell our fellow citizens what happened and try to get something done about it.”
There have to be ways to address the concerns Ward has about accusers feeling unsafe in a workplace as the accused stay on the job while simultaneously respecting due process. It wouldn’t be easy, but this is Shapiro’s opportunity to hold his own workplace to that standard.
As Shapiro himself said, “Stand up today and announce your support for these common-sense reforms.”
It’s good advice.