Tacoma representative appeals report that called her ‘abusive, a bully and retaliatory’
A state representative who was alleged to have “engaged in rude, disrespectful and demeaning conduct” in violation of the Washington State House of Representatives Respectful Workplace policy has challenged the complaint.
Rep. Melanie Morgan, a Democrat who represents 29th district, filed an appeal supplement with the House of Representatives Chief Clerk Bernard Dean on Friday.
“I have found the charges filed against me to be not only unfounded, but frankly they are a direct attempt by staff and community members to try and make me take action against the people I was elected to represent and make changes in Olympia,” Morgan said in a news release. “Anytime a woman of color stands up against the system, people will try and tear them down. I’m not going to stop fighting for the people that elected me to office.”
Morgan’s lawyer Edward Earl Younglove III wrote in the supplement that “the report was widely publicized, unfairly damning Representative Morgan in the public eye as abusive, a bully, and retaliatory.”
Younglove wrote prior to the investigative report and to the appeal, they requested the investigative report not to be publicly released until after the appeal, which was denied by Dean. He wrote they requested the claims in the investigative report to be attributed to its source.
Dean released a report Oct. 10 that found Morgan “engaged in abusive and bullying conduct” and retaliated against a policy analyst working for the Social Equity in Cannabis Task Force, according to the Associated Press.
The report, authored by Seattle attorney Sheryl Willert, concluded Morgan engaged in conduct that was perceived by multiple individuals to be abusive and bullying and Morgan’s complaints constituted retaliation and was an adverse employment action.
Younglove said in the supplement to Dean that Morgan deserves to be more fairly evaluated regarding her conduct as the Social Equity in Cannabis Task Force chair than what is reflected in the investigative report.
“The Legislature should look at its processes with an eye toward fairness,” he wrote. “It is apparent that something other than due process or fairness are being served by the process followed in this case.”
Younglove also questioned the timing of the complaint and investigation. He wrote they requested additional time to supplement the appeal with interviews with people who should have been included in the investigation and Morgan was given less than a month to respond.
“Publicly releasing findings based on anonymous accusations without a meaningful opportunity for input are the trappings of a process denuded of any semblance of the basic principles of due process and basic fundamental fairness, not just for the accused individual, but in this case for an electorate’s chosen representative,” he wrote.
He also stated Morgan did not significantly delay the investigation.
He wrote that while the initiation and motive of staff in the perpetuation of the report is suspect, the timing of the completion and release of the investigation report was “patently unfair.” It was in the midst of Morgan’s re-election campaign, Younglove stated.
In the supplement, Younglove included interviews with members of the task force work groups. They were not interviewed by the investigator, he stated. He wrote none of their statements are consistent with the investigator’s findings that Morgan’s conduct was abusive, bullying or retaliatory, and they did not agree that Morgan was rude, disrespectful or demeaning. Those interviewed said Morgan’s conduct was very professional, he wrote.
Morgan, of Parkland, has served two terms as state representative, serving south Tacoma, east Lakewood, Springbrook, Parkland, Spanaway, and W. Fredrickson. She is up for re-election and faces challenger Brett Johnson, a Republican from Tacoma for the Position 1 seat.