Donate Subscriptions

This week we learned that Admiral Mike Franken (USN-ret.), the Democratic nominee in Iowa's U.S. Senate race, was accused by a former campaign manager, Kimberly Strope-Boggus, of allegedly grabbing the collar of her vest and kissing her on the mouth after meeting her for drinks at a bar in Des Moines back in March to discuss the possibility of her rejoining his campaign.

Iowa Field Report, a partisan news site run by a Republican operative, broke the news by releasing the Des Moines Police report in response to the complaint Strope-Boggus filed almost a month later at the behest of her wife Becky.

The police report notes Strope-Boggus said she signed a nondisclosure statement upon her termination (before the meeting with Franken to discuss rehiring her). She also noted that the Franken campaign advised her attorney that a social media post by her wife criticizing Franken for firing her and then soliciting a donation from her wife violated her NDA.

Strope-Boggus also said that this conduct was normal for Franken, that he had "1950s interactions with women," but did not have sexual intent or intent to do her or the other women harm. 

As a result of her statement that he did not have sexual intent or intended to harm, the Polk County Attorney's office took the complaint no further, determining that there was no criminal conduct, and closed the case as "unfounded." 

Franken denied the accusation.

You can read my report at The Iowa Torch here.

Iowa Democrats have been relatively silent. State Rep. Christiana Bohannon, D-Iowa City, and State Senator Liz Mathis, D-Hiawatha, both running for Congress in Iowa's 1st and 2nd Congressional Districts, did not appear at a town hall meeting on social security with Franken in Cedar Rapids. According to Tom Barton of The Gazette, the campaigns cited scheduling conflicts.

Mathis is the only Democrat to issue any statement that says nothing of substance.

"Although it is my understanding investigators found that no criminal act occurred and the case was closed after being deemed unfounded by police, it is an important reminder that workplaces and law enforcement should encourage women to feel comfortable coming forward with any allegations of inappropriate conduct. From my work as an advocate for victims of neglect and assault, I reaffirm my victim-focused and zero-tolerance stance against all forms of sexual harassment," she said. 

"No criminal act occurred" is a pretty low bar. And the fact that it was deemed "unfounded" is not due to a determination by the police that it didn't happen but the fact the alleged victim said there was no sexual intent or intent to harm her. 

What happened to "believe all women"? I guarantee you that had a similar police report been filed against U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley. Democrats would be up in arms about this.

Franken, who is married, has been accused of kissing women without their permission. And Democrats are saying nothing. 

They are also saying nothing about the NDA. The Iowa Democratic Party opposes NDAs in their party platform (plank #386). 

NDAs have their place. I understand a company or campaign not wanting someone to leak internal communications, discussing methods and strategy, etc. 

NDAs shouldn't be allowed to stop criticism by former employees, however. And an NDA certainly shouldn't apply to this situation, as it happened after her employment with the Franken campaign. 

We now have a classic "he said, she said" scenario. Democrats told us to "believe all women" when they flamed Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearing. They should be consistent and believe Strope-Boggus. 

Because I'm consistent, I'll approach this situation with Franken the way I did with Kavanaugh. I'll need to see corroborating evidence, and if Franken truly does make a practice of kissing women who are not his wife, having some come forward to back Strope-Boggus would add credibility to her accusation.

Provided the Franken campaign didn't make them sign NDAs.

I just wished Iowa Democrats gave Kavanaugh the same consideration.