Foxx Campaign Booster To Investigate Sex Harassment Claim
The attorney retained by the City of Charlotte to investigate whether a city councilmember sexually harassed a city employee was a huge financial contributor to the campaign of the mayor whose cryptic e-mail prompted some councilmembers to call for an investigation.
Valecia McDowell, an attorney with the influential and politically connected law firm Moore & Van Allen, donated $1,250 to the mayoral campaign of Anthony Foxx last year, according to campaign finance reports on record with the Mecklenburg County Board of Elections. And McDowell wasn’t the only member of Moore & Van Allen forking over big bucks to support Foxx; members from the firm contributed in excess of $5,600 to Foxx’s campaign.
Mayor Pro Tem Susan Burgess, who was originally tasked with researching the possibility of hiring an outside investigator, said in an interview Monday that she was not aware of McDowell’s contribution to Foxx’s campaign, or of similar contributions from other Moore & Van Allen employees. Burgess said she didn’t think there was any conflict of interest.
“Lawyers donate to political campaigns,” Burgess said. “She [McDowell] is quite professionally capable and I am confident that she will remain very objective.”
McDowell will be paid $250 an hour for her services, and her investigation is expected to take up to two weeks. She is charged with determining “whether the complained of conduct of an elected official towards a female member of the City’s staff occurred”, and if it did, whether it “constituted sexually harassing conduct as defined in and interpreted under Title VII.”
Title VII is a federal law that prohibits workplace sexual harassment, legally defined as unwelcome verbal, visual, or physical conduct of a sexual nature that is severe or pervasive and affects working conditions or creates a hostile work environment.
Foxx’s e-mail to councilmembers warning against sexual harassment has come under intense criticism for casting unfounded suspicion on every councilmember and taking public a matter that many thought could have and should have been more appropriately handled privately.
In his e-mail, sent two weeks ago to every member of the council, Foxx made no overt accusations of sexual harassment, but rather lobbed a general warning that such action would not be tolerated.
Although no formal sexual harassment complaint had been filed, the city’s human resources director said last week that an employee had approached him with concerns about a councilmember’s inappropriate behavior. The employee, however, did not want to file an official complaint. When City Manager Curt Walton learned of the complaint that wasn’t a complaint, he asked Foxx to address the situation with the councilmember.
Foxx, instead, sent the ambiguous yet ultimately inflammatory e-mail to the whole council. In the ensuing controversy, Councilmember Warren Turner has been publicly linked to the harassment claim, fostering speculation that Foxx’s e-mail might have had a politically driven, ulterior motive. Foxx has repeatedly said he meant no harm in sending the e-mail. Turner has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and said no one from the city has formally approached him about any allegations or complaints.
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