Lawyer Says Lowry Investigation `Tainted’ Appointed Attorney Gave $30 To Governor’s Re-Election Drive
An independent review of sexual harassment allegations against Gov. Mike Lowry is “tainted from the outset,” the attorney for the woman making the accusations says.
Laurence Finegold, attorney for Susanne Albright, the alleged victim of the harassment, called the review “suspect” because the attorney selected to conduct the review was chosen by Lowry’s staff.
“If I had called a press conference to announce I was conducting an independent review with an attorney I had selected, the press would have laughed, the audience would have laughed, and I’d have been the laughingstock of the state,” Finegold said.
The investigator, Mary Alice Theiler, also is one of Lowry’s campaign contributors, state records show. She gave Lowry’s re-election campaign $30 in September.
Anne Fennessy, spokeswoman for the governor, said Lowry did not know Theiler was a campaign contributor and will evaluate the situation today.
“Do you start all over?” Fennessy asked.
The governor’s first priority was that the review be conducted by an attorney with expertise in sexual harassment law, she added.
Finegold said Albright has not yet decided to participate in the investigation, and that he will “advise her of my concerns as she makes up her mind.
“This is a hand-picked, so-called independent investigator but the selection process is tainted from the outset.”
The outside investigator also has no powers of subpoena and cannot take testimony under oath.
Albright, a former press aide, quit her job in November, telling coworkers privately that Lowry sexually harassed her.
Albright has not filed a formal complaint or lawsuit, “but is keeping her options open,” Finegold said.
He is not an attorney specializing in sexual harassment law, but said he agreed to help Albright “because she was frightened and wounded.”
“I could not turn my back on her,” Finegold said.
Albright did not return phone calls Monday.
Lowry has denied he did anything to offend Albright.
The review will be conducted by Theiler, a Seattle attorney in private practice with experience in sexual harassment cases. Theiler is conducting the review without pay.
Lowry, 54, is midway through his first four-year term as governor.
He already was braving low popularity polls, and facing a tough legislative session.
Now Lowry will be under a cloud as the investigation continues. Lorraine Hine, Lowry’s deputy staff director, estimated the review would take weeks, maybe longer.
She maintained Lowry’s innocence Monday and vowed the governor would not be distracted from his work.
Asked if she ever had reason to question Lowry’s actions toward women employees, Hine said “never.”
The investigation is being conducted not for Albright’s benefit, but for the benefit of employees who still work for Lowry, “to determine if there is a problem in the office,” said Jenny Durkan, Lowry’s attorney.
The attorney general’s office could not do the investigation because no complaint has been filed. Even if one had been, review by the attorney general’s office would not be perceived publicly as unbiased, Durkan said.
Hine said Theiler’s review would be impartial.
“The governor has placed no constraints or conditions on me in this evaluation,” Theiler wrote in a statement.
Kimberly Reason, executive director of the Northwest Women’s Law Center, a public interest law firm in Seattle, said regardless of the outcome, Lowry is wounded politically just by the negative publicity.
“Whether the allegations are true is less the issue for Lowry,” Reason said. “The political liability is there either way.”
The inquiry doesn’t affect Albright’s right to sue, no matter what its outcome.
Durkan said Monday the situation has been hard on Lowry. Without a specific complaint, he doesn’t know what to respond to, she said. “All we have is vague assertions, no specifics, and no complaint.
“This has been very difficult for the governor and his family,” Durkan said. “His personal integrity has been central to his whole professional career.”
xxxx THEILER’S BACKGROUND Mary Alice Theiler is one of the state’s leading attorneys for women who are alleging sexual harassment or assault, Lowry aides say. She is immediate past chairwoman of the King County Bar Association and has investigated allegations of misconduct by members of the bar and the state judiciary.