{"id":10677,"date":"2018-02-09T13:31:40","date_gmt":"2018-02-09T18:31:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/?p=10677"},"modified":"2018-02-09T13:34:39","modified_gmt":"2018-02-09T18:34:39","slug":"metoo-california-assemblywoman-accused-groping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2018\/02\/09\/metoo-california-assemblywoman-accused-groping\/","title":{"rendered":"#MeToo California assemblywoman accused of groping"},"content":{"rendered":"

A California state assemblywoman who rose to national prominence as a campaigner against sexual assault is now herself accused of misconduct.<\/p>\n

The state legislature is investigating Democrat Cristina Garcia, who was featured in a Time magazine profile of #MeToo victims last year.<\/p>\n

Ms Garcia is accused of groping another lawmaker’s male aide after an annual legislative softball game in 2014.<\/p>\n

She says she has “zero recollection of engaging in inappropriate behaviour”.<\/p>\n

In a statement, the influential Los Angeles-area lawmaker added that “such behaviour is inconsistent with my values”.<\/p>\n

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\"View<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n
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\"\"<\/span>Cristina Garcia<\/span><\/span>@AsmGarcia<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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I didn\u2019t know I was part of the story. That I was pictured and added to a timeline of this reckoning. It\u2019s an awkwardly humbling experience, but I am proud of this work and the company I am in. I hope you\u2019ll pick up a copy of @<\/span>TIME<\/span><\/a> &read about the bravery.#<\/span>MeToo<\/span><\/a> #<\/span>WeSaidEnough<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“Every complaint about sexual harassment should be taken seriously and I will participate fully in any investigation that takes place,” said Ms Garcia, who was elected in 2012 and chairs the Legislative Women’s Caucus and the Natural Resources Committee.<\/p>\n

The accusation comes from Daniel Fierro, who said a drunken Ms Garcia cornered him in the team dugout when he was 25 years old.<\/p>\n

He said Ms Garcia stroked his back, squeezed his buttocks and attempted to grab his crotch.<\/p>\n

Mr Fierro told Politico<\/a>\u00a0he did not originally report the incident.<\/p>\n

He is not the only man accusing Ms Garcia of unwanted sexual advances.<\/p>\n

Another accuser, whom Politico described as a prominent lobbyist at California’s state capital, claims the lawmaker tried to fondle him at a fundraiser last year.<\/p>\n

The man, who wished to remain anonymous because he represents a major industry association, said Ms Garcia had leaned in close enough to him that he could smell alcohol on her breath.<\/p>\n

She whispered that she had “set a goal” for herself to have sex with him and used a vulgarity, he said.<\/p>\n

The accuser said he stopped Ms Garcia from grabbing his genitals, and told her “that ain’t gonna happen”.<\/p>\n

The claims come months after the lawmaker told the New York Times she had experienced sexual harassment.<\/p>\n

“Multiple people have grabbed my butt and grabbed my breasts,” she said about alleged incidents in the state capital of Sacramento.<\/p>\n

“We’re talking about senior lobbyists and lawmakers.”<\/p>\n

Her story later featured in\u00a0Time magazine’s issue honouring “silence breakers”<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Both Mr Fierro and the lobbyist said Ms Garcia was heavily inebriated at the time of the alleged assaults.<\/p>\n

In a November interview with the Associated Press news agency about alcohol at political fundraisers, Ms Garcia said that blaming drink is not an acceptable excuse for inappropriate sexual behaviour.<\/p>\n

“I would say that most of the public realises that our job is based on relationships, and so we are expected to go out there and socialise,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I think our public also expects us to hold ourselves to a higher standard.”<\/p>\n

Source: bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A California state assemblywoman who rose to national prominence as a campaigner against sexual assault is now herself accused of misconduct. The state legislature is investigating Democrat Cristina Garcia, who was featured in a Time […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10678,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[4854,177,4853],"class_list":{"0":"post-10677","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"category-usa","9":"tag-metoo","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-cristina-garcia","12":"pmpro-has-access"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10677"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10677\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10679,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10677\/revisions\/10679"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}