Carpenter Apologizes for Sexual Harassment Claims About Candidate

Former state Sen. Paul Carpenter apologized Friday to Cecil Green, Carpenter’s choice in the race for his old 33rd state Senate District seat, for claiming at a candidates’ forum that Green’s Republican opponent had made sexual advances toward his secretary.

Carpenter, who resigned from the Senate to take a seat on the State Board of Equalization, could not be reached for comment Friday. But Green said in a brief interview that Carpenter had apologized to him for raising the “negative issue” Thursday night after Green had asked him not to.

Green said Carpenter mentioned a “rumor” about sexual harassment to him at a meeting on Feb. 10. At that time, Green recounted, “I said, ‘Paul Carpenter, this is the thing that should not be used’ ” in the campaign.

Green, a Democrat and a Norwalk city councilman and former mayor, said he wanted to run a campaign based on issues, and “I prefer not to run a negative campaign.”

So, Green said, “I was a totally amazed man” when, on Thursday night at a candidates’ forum in La Palma, Carpenter took the floor during a question-and-answer session.

Denies the Charges

Carpenter accused Assemblyman Wayne Grisham (R-Norwalk) of having fired an aide, whom Carpenter identified as Laura Wilamowski, because she “rebuffed his sexual advances.”

Carpenter also read the woman’s Sacramento phone number aloud to the gathering of about 60 people. Grisham immediately denied the charges, adding angrily: “That’s a despicable thing to say in front of my wife.”

Green said he was very unhappy with Carpenter’s remarks but did not see him after the meeting.

But, Green said Friday, “Paul Carpenter came in my office today. And Paul Carpenter apologized to me . . . I thought it was great.”

“I have taken a position,” Green said. “I don’t want this in my campaign. I’m going to have to take a position that it is only rumor. Paul Carpenter can do what he pleases.”

He added that he did not believe Carpenter’s remarks had hurt his campaign “because I am my campaign” and he has been endorsed by other politicians besides Carpenter.

Green’s press secretary, Larry Morse, said, “It is unfortunate that this is going on because it is detracting from the real issues between Grisham and Cecil--the governor’s budget, transportation, social services. . . .This is a peripheral issue and no way would we want to be connected with it.”

Dismissed for Incompetence

Grisham also could not be reached for comment Friday. But administrative assistant Jean Good said that she--and not Grisham--had fired Wilamowski. Good reiterated on Friday what Grisham had said Thursday night--that Wilamowski was dismissed on grounds of incompetence. A memo from Good to Grisham, dated Friday and spelling out the reasons behind Wilamowski’s dismissal, was released to reporters by Grisham’s office. Among other complaints, the memo asserted that Wilamowski had trouble typing, spelling and writing and took long lunch breaks.

According to an Assembly Rules Committee official, Wilamowski worked for Grisham in his Sacramento office from Feb. 10 to Oct. 24, 1986. Before that, she had spent three years in the state Senate secretarial pool, working her way up from a job as a messenger in January, 1985, to secretarial apprentice, to full-fledged secretary.

Wilamowski has been employed for the past three weeks by the California Chamber of Commerce in Sacramento.

In a brief interview Friday, walking from her office to a parking garage, she stuck by her contention that Grisham had made sexual advances “almost daily.” She claimed that the assemblyman had repeatedly made sexual remarks about her.

When Grisham fired her, Wilamowski said, “He never gave me a reason why. He said, ‘You have to go.’ . . . He never gave me a reason why.”

Feared Repercussions

Asked why she had not filed a complaint against Grisham with the state Fair Housing and Employment Division, Wilamowski said she had feared repercussions.

“I didn’t want to file a sexual harassment complaint because the legislators with their power would belittle me. That’s what they’re doing now,” she said.

Martin Anaya, district administrator for the Sacramento fair employment office, confirmed that Wilamowski had never met with any of his interviewers or filed a complaint. But a complainant has a year “from the time of the alleged wrong” to file, he said.

Carpenter said Thursday that Wilamowski came to his office with her story of sexual harassment, but Wilamowski insisted Friday that she had met with the former state senator at his request.

“Carpenter came to me. He threw me into this,” she said. “Everyone in the capital knew I was fired.” So when Carpenter asked her for her story, she said, “What was I going to do--lie?”

Two of Grisham’s current female employees said they were appalled that he was being portrayed as a man who sexually harassed anyone.

“Mr. Grisham is always complimenting us, thanking us when we work in the office. He’s just kind of a courtly gentleman type,” Good said.

And Lisa Lehman, a legislative aide in Grisham’s Sacramento office, called him “a very nice man.” She added: “She (Wilamowski) is complaining that he continuously complimented her on her good looks. I don’t think that’s a crime. Wayne compliments everyone--’don’t you look nice today’--but he complimented her no more than anyone else. Wayne likes people who are well-dressed.”

Good said she believes the charges by Carpenter were “a pre-election stunt. . . . You know, it’s three weeks to the election, and the Democrats really want the Senate seat. It seems pretty clear to me.”

Lanie Jones reported from Orange County and Daniel Weintraub from Sacramento, and staff writer Mark Gladstone contributed from Sacramento.