 |
| Photo by Gage Skidmore _________________ |
If you are a
progressive woman who sympathized with and supported Christine Ford Blasey,
then it will be difficult to dismiss the claims against the women who have
filed sexual harassment lawsuits – some of which were settled out-of-court with
NDAs – against Mike Bloomberg.
This will come out in the mainstream media, and it should, and if it
doesn’t, then the hypocrisy would be breathtaking.
For those who would minimize the effects of such harassment, I can verify
that constant harassment can profoundly diminish one’s sense of self-worth over
time. Years ago, I was harassed by a boss who commented constantly on my weight
and overall appearance – a horrible time in my life.
As a young woman in the late 1970’s, I felt powerless to do anything
about it, other than quit my job.
When someone wielding power harasses an employee about her appearance and
her sexuality, what is she going to do?
Report the harasser?
Most of the time, the harassed will simply quit. What else can she (or
he) do?
Even in 2019, filing a lawsuit is difficult, the victim becoming yet
again a target for further harassment, this time by the legal system.
And testifying against a harasser offers its own hazards.
We observed that in real time, on national TV when Christine Ford Blasey
bravely testified against Brett Kavanaugh. Her life certainly has not taken a positive turn since her testimony – filled with death threats and even more harassment.
Nope.
I could never vote for someone like Bloomberg.
There are myriad reasons to vote against Bloomberg – his powerful media
company (conflict of interest), his staggering wealth, his flip flopping – but
if he snagged the nomination, I could let those pass and hold my nose.
But not this.
If Bloomberg somehow buys the Democratic
nomination, I would have to sit the 2020 presidential election out or write in
a vote for a more worthy candidate (I would still vote for local and state
candidates).
Voting blue, no matter who, at the presidential level would no longer
matter because blue, in selecting Bloomberg, would represent the biggest political
sellout EVER.
Hypocrisy at the highest level.
It is my desperate hope that cooler heads would ensure that Bloomberg gets
nowhere near the Democratic nomination.
From The Atlantic:
From 1996 to 1997, four women filed sexual-harassment
or discrimination suits against Bloomberg the company. One of the suits
included the following allegation: When Sekiko Sakai Garrison, a sales
representative at the company, told Mike Bloomberg she was pregnant, he
replied, “Kill it!” (Bloomberg went on, she alleged, to mutter, “Great, No.
16”—a reference, her complaint said, to the 16 women at the company who were
then pregnant.) To these allegations, Garrison added another one: Even prior to
her pregnancy, she claimed, Bloomberg had antagonized her by making disparaging
comments about her appearance and sexual desirability. “What, is the guy dumb
and blind?” he is alleged to have said upon seeing her wearing an engagement
ring. “What the hell is he marrying you for?”
I recommend that you read this article in its entirety and to keep your
eyes and mind open for future revelations, especially before the primaries and
caucuses.
We don’t need this albatross.
