Official Accuses Ex-County Chief of Sexual Harassment

A top Ventura County administrator alleges in newly released court documents that her former boss caused her great psychological stress through numerous sexual overtures, saying she had great legs and asking “are redheads as feisty as I have heard they are?”

Terry Dryer, 52, said in pre-trial court documents that former county Chief Administrator Harry Hufford, 71, retaliated against her by becoming verbally abusive and critical when she spurned his advances.

The atmosphere became so tense that she was forced to leave her post as chief deputy administrative officer because of the stress, Dryer stated in the court documents, which were released last week.

Dryer, a 28-year county employee, was one of Hufford’s top lieutenants when he served as interim chief from January 2000 to March 2001. She filed suit against him and the county in November 2001, seeking $1 million in damages and lost wages.

Trial is set for May 12 in Ventura County Superior Court.

“It’s not my practice to litigate in the press,” said Hufford’s attorney, Nancy McClelland. “Mr. Hufford and the county absolutely deny the allegation that Ms. Dryer worked in a hostile environment or was sexually harassed.”

But a secretary in the administrative office said in a deposition that she was also harassed by Hufford. The 33-year-old woman, who asked not to be identified, said Hufford took her out for drinks once after work to talk about her career.

She said Hufford drank three alcoholic beverages and suggested one of her career paths should be that of a “trophy wife” on the “arm of a rich man.”

“He placed his hand under the table and on her knee and leg and left it there,” according to the court papers. “[She] was shocked, stunned and confused and did not know what to do about the situation.”

The woman said Hufford followed her outside and got into the car’s passenger seat uninvited. He asked to go for a ride with her but she refused and “drove home shaken, disturbed and upset,” the documents stated. The woman later told Dryer about the incident, and Dryer became so upset she went to see a psychologist, according to the court documents.

Dryer’s attorney, Donald Adams, said the woman chose not to file a lawsuit against Hufford, but that she will very likely be called as a witness.

“It’s a wrenching decision for a woman to make, but she has reluctantly come to the conclusion that she should speak up,” Adams said.

Dryer has not returned to her job since taking medical leave for stress in February 2001 and will soon resign, Adams said. She was placed on leave by her doctors “due to uncontrollable high blood pressure causing nosebleeds and psychological stress,” the documents stated.

In her deposition, Dryer cited a list of incidents that allegedly showed Hufford had sexually harassed her and created a hostile work environment. Dryer said that when she told Hufford she had been married 21 years, he responded, “You must be very lonely being married that long.”

“Based on the way that he said it and the look on his face, she interpreted this as a sexual overture,” Adams stated in the deposition.

On separate occasions, according to the documents, Hufford told her she looked good for her age, asked about the feistiness of redheads and complimented her on a business presentation, adding that “with three men on the board” he was not surprised her proposal had been approved.

“On another occasion, Mr. Hufford mentioned in passing that Ms. Dryer’s blue suit ‘sets off’ her legs, and later told her the suit ‘showed off her figure,’ ” Adams said in court papers.

Hufford’s attorneys said in documents that during Hufford’s tenure, Dryer’s $114,000 annual salary was never reduced and she was never demoted.

They also said Dryer never told Hufford she objected to any of the comments he made nor did she tell him she was concerned about his conduct.

But Dryer said in the court documents she never confronted Hufford directly about his alleged sexual overtures because she was fearful of his powerful position. On one occasion, when she objected to comments Hufford had made about her education, he responded by becoming angry and ordering her out of the office, according to documents.

Hufford was chief administrative officer for Los Angeles County from 1974 to 1985 and again in 1993 when that county faced a financial crisis.