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Franken has announced his resignation, but Cortez Masto was not among horde to call for his head

Humberto Sanchez
Humberto Sanchez
Congress
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Harry Truman once said, "If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.”

Never has that axiom resonated so loudly as when Democratic Sen. Al Franken announced Thursday his plans to resign after losing the support of his Democratic Senate colleagues following a report of a seventh of eight women who accused the former comedian of sexual harassment.

Shortly after that report emerged on Wednesday, it was the Senate Democratic women that led the charge for Franken to step down, which ultimately led to 32 Democrats calling on him to go, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

But while 13 of 16 Senate Democratic women called for Franken’s resignation, Nevada Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto was among the three Democrats who did not.

She did take to Twitter to proclaim that “Sexual harassment in any context is unacceptable. I'm disappointed & disgusted with the allegations concerning @SenFranken, and he should be held accountable.”

Cortez Masto also linked to the statement she put out last week with the regard to Ruben Kihuen, who represents Nevada’s 4th Congressional district and has also been accused of sexual impropriety.

Cortez Masto’s release stopped short of calling for Kihuen’s resignation, just as with Franken, and unlike statements from some Democratic leaders, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who have called on Kihuen to step down.

Asked about her reluctance to call for Kihuen’s and Franken’s departure, her spokesman said that she is focused on the broader issue of sexual harassment and changes to the congressional harassment process that are required to affect the culture that has allowed harassment to persist.

“She’s looking to the future,” he said. “She’s looking for lasting change.”

Cortez Masto will play a role on legislative efforts to change the process as a member of the Senate Rules and Administration Committee, which has broad jurisdiction over operations in the U.S. Capitol building.

She also is a co-sponsor of the legislation that would require annual harassment prevention training, for members, staff and employees of Congress, require a workplace climate survey to be conducted every two years and allow for complaints to be made online.

In her statement following Franken’s resignation, Cortez Masto noted that she supported victims of sexual violence and misconduct as Nevada attorney general and that her focus remains on fixing the ethics process.

“I am working with my colleagues on the Rules Committee on bipartisan solutions to fix this broken and outdated process,” she said. “We must stop using taxpayer dollars to settle sexual harassment claims. We must create an environment where every woman or man feels empowered to come forward. We must reform the Senate’s outdated rules and practices to reflect a higher standard of conduct for Members and staff, and protect the survivors that break their silence."

List of Democratic women and what they said about Franken:

Gillibrand: Senator Franken Should Step Aside.

Hirono: Today, I am calling on my colleague Al Franken to step aside.

McCaskill: Al Franken should resign.

Hassan: He should resign.

Harris: I believe the best thing for Senator Franken to do is to step down.

Murray: It’s time for him to step aside.

Baldwin: I believe it is best for Senator Franken to resign.

Cantwell: It is time for Senator Franken to resign for office.

Feinstein: I think resignation is the right thing for him to do.

Duckworth: He must step aside.

Heitkamp: We must commit to zero tolerance...and that means Senator Franken should step down.

Stabenow: I believe that Senator Franken should do the right thing and resign.

Warren: I think he should resign.

Cortez-Masto: He should be held accountable. She put out a statement after Franken resigned calling on reform of the process and working on that as a member of the Rules Committee.

Klobuchar: I am confident he’ll make the right decision.

Shaheen refused to comment because she's on the Ethics Committee.

 

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