April 20, 2024

Hopefully none of us will ever become numb to instances where government officials, business owners, or any other kinds of organization leadership minimize harassment of employees in the workplace, and/or try to conceal that harassment. The victims of the harassment pay a heavy price that can plague them in numerous ways for years and perhaps for life.

An article published on Friday this week by Cascade PBS/ Crosscut shows us it’s time to remind Whatcom County officials that we feel harassment in any of its forms is unacceptable, no matter how valued the employee who is responsible for the harassment has been, especially any harassment inflicted by those who are in supervisory roles.

From the article by Brandon Block, “Whatcom County paid $225K to settle sexual harassment complaints“:

“Jon Hutchings resigned in lieu of termination in October 2022, just one day before a third-party investigator interviewed three female employees who reported Hutchings had made sexual comments to them or touched them inappropriately while at work.

“But county leaders never formally disciplined Hutchings or adjudicated the complaints. And they helped him get a new job, writing a favorable ‘letter of introduction.'”

Here is a link to the “letter of introduction” mentioned above: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24539408-hutchings-letter-of-introduction

According to the article – which is well worth reading in its entirety – internal records (I’m assuming these are from Whatcom County) indicated harassment of one particular County employee went on for at least two years. The reporter gives an account of many of the issues arising out of this harassment case starting with one female employee’s initial report in 2021 to a Whatcom County official of unwelcome attention to her coming from Hutchings,

The article goes on to report more of the story as it came out in County public records, and from a letter to Whatcom County from the female employee’s attorney in October 2023: “The letter sought $400,000 and ‘prospective anti-sex discrimination corrective action as negotiated.’ A settlement agreement shows the county ultimately paid $225,000.”

Subsequent to the the publishing of Brandon Block’s article on April 19, 2024, Whatcom Democrat’s Chair, Andrew Redding, sent this letter to Whatcom County Council Members that same day:

“To the County Council:

“Finding this story in a prominent Washington State publication associated with PBS jolted me wide awake this morning.

“It will also come as a big surprise to Council Members Kaylee Galloway and Jon Scanlon, who joined the County Council subsequent to these events.

“And I suspect it may come as at least a partial surprise to the rest of you.

“Whatcom Democrats’ harassment policy states we are committed to ‘a harassment-free experience for everyone’, which includes respecting others’ personal space, making ‘physical contact with others only after receiving their consent,’ refraining ‘from sexually suggestive comments, emails, social media messages, or texts without consent,” and, critically,’ who is in a supervisory position should not make sexually suggestive comments to, or seek in any way to seduce someone in a subordinate position.’

“We believe our elected officials should hold administrators accountable to the same standards. 

“This is not a partisan issue. This incident reflects badly on the Democratic County Executive. It remains to be seen the extent to which the Republican leaders in Lynden were aware of this, and how they will respond to these developments.

“It is unacceptable that public servants continue to suffer sexual harassment in Whatcom, and that those in executive positions would protect department heads and provide them with strong letters of recommendation for other public employment in Whatcom County.

“Please think carefully about the kind of message that sends to all our other female public employees.

“They deserve better from us. A lot better.

“As elected officials, please take action to reassure our public employees that this is unacceptable, and that you will hold administrators – and the public officials who supervise them – fully accountable. 

“Andrew Reding, Chair

“Whatcom County Democrats”

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Here is information for relevant Whatcom County officials we can use to contact them with our own input on this matter :

Whatcom County

Whatcom County Executive:

Satpal Sidhu: ssidhu@co.whatcom.wa.us
Phone: 360-778-5200

Whatcom County Council:

Entire Council (for the record) : council@co.whatcom.wa.us

District 1
Kaylee Galloway  
Email kgallowa@co.whatcom.wa.us and phone: 360-303-1644
Term expires January 2026
 
District 2
Todd Donovan  Email tdonovan@co.whatcom.wa.us and Phone: 360-483-8474 
Term expires January 2026
 
District 3
Tyler Byrd
Email tbyrd@co.whatcom.wa.us and Phone: 360-778-5021
Term expires January 2026
 
District 4
Mark Stremler
Email Mstremle@co.whatcom.wa.us and phone: 360-935-1266
Term expires January 2028
 
District 5
Ben Elenbaas
Email BElenbaa@co.whatcom.wa.us and Phone: 360-778-5025
Term expires January 2028
 
At-Large, Position A
Barry Buchanan  
Email bbuchanan@co.whatcom.wa.us and phone: 360-224-4330
Term expires January 2026
 
At-Large, Position B
John Scanlon
Email jscanlon@co.whatcom.wa.us and phone: 360-935-1523
Term expires January 2028