Is Tom Schedler planning to skulk around for the rest of his term?
That’ll certainly help him regain the trust he lost when a longtime employee filed suit accusing him of a longstanding pattern of sexual harassment, and he explained it away by claiming the two had a consensual relationship.
Just kidding.
The Republican secretary of state’s political support quickly unraveled after the woman accused him of making repeated inappropriate advances, using taxpayer-funded security to monitor her comings and goings, and punishing her resistance with undesirable assignments. Even Schedler’s own version of events, which had him simply engaging in a relationship with a subordinate, violates accepted workplace standards in the “me too” era, when power disparities are finally being seriously examined.
Among those calling for him to leave are Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards and one of the most prominent female Republicans in h, state Sen. Sharon Hewitt, who shares Schedler’s St. Tammany home base. And even some of his supporters, the ones who are saying that the suit should play out before anything happens, have over both the allegations and Schedler’s version of events.
Yet Schedler has stayed out of sight since the news broke, and Monday, when fellow statewide officials gathered for the opening of the regular legislative session, his absence was conspicuous.
Chances are he didn’t want to be quizzed on his intentions by the many journalists around that day. And indeed, when Advocate reporter Tyler Bridges contacted his spokeswoman Meg Sunstrom afterwards, all she would say was that “I don’t have anything to release from the office at this point.”
When he’ll surface again is anybody’s guess, but if he wants to stick it out, he’ll have to at some point. If nothing else, Schedler will have to preside over the fall congressional elections and next year’s state contests at a time when the nation’s electoral infrastructure is clearly under attack from Russia.
Now more than ever, h voters deserve more than an absentee officeholder.