Conaty on Sex Harassment Case

* I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when I read your editorial “Painless Penalty” (Nov. 8). I’ve suffered plenty of pain because of baseless accusations of sexual harassment. I lost a week’s pay and, more important, I have had my name dragged through the mud continually while Assemblyman Mickey Conroy (R-Orange) and I wait for our day in court.

I never sexually harassed former office clerk Robyn Boyd. That’s what I told investigators hired by the Democrat-controlled Assembly Rules Committee. That is my testimony in ongoing litigation, and I am certain that an unbiased jury will agree.

I am particularly outraged by reporters and editorial writers who don’t have the professionalism to do anything more than rewrite old stories, who don’t take the time to get my side of the story and who, through malice or laziness, distort the record.

Take, for example, the charge that I showed the office clerk a pornographic newspaper. I did. But this wasn’t my newspaper. It was one of the 40 copies former Assemblyman Gil Ferguson distributed in support of an anti-pornography bill. In fact, Ferguson even held the newspaper up for television cameras covering the Assembly session. Of all the hundreds of people in the Capitol who saw that newspaper--and the thousands who saw it on television--only one, Robyn Boyd, thought that this was a case of sexual harassment.

Still, because of her accusation, I lost one week’s pay. That was a considerable financial hardship. I made up for it by working nights and weekends for Conroy’s campaign committee. And, even though I wasn’t being paid, I continued to work, as an unpaid volunteer, in Conroy’s office for that week.

Your editorial was flat wrong. I have been penalized. It has been painful. But the bottom line is this: I did nothing wrong. I cannot wait to get into court where the truth really matters.

PETER M. CONATY

Chief Consultant to Utilities and Commerce Committee

Staff Consultant to Conroy

Sacramento