FOLIO
BYGONE #METOOS
Nearly eight years ago, a sex scandal rocked the Marijuana Policy Project, which advocates non-punitive marijuana laws. City Paper reports that then-executive director Rob Kampia had sex with a female subordinate after an employee happy hour; subsequently, seven employees, including the woman, resigned within two weeks. All department heads sought Kampia’s resignation until Kampia told chief of staff and unofficial head of HR Alison Green that MPP’s largest funder would pull out if he left. Green switched sides and Kampia stayed on.
Fast-forward to present day. City Paper states Kampia has recently been recast as primarily working in fundraising and will no longer manage staff. Some ex-MPP staffers told City Paper the scandal and the company’s response haunts them still. Green, who left shortly after the scandal, has gone on to an extremely successful career as founder of the Ask a Manager workplace advice blog and national expert on workplace issues. Green told City Paper that standing behind Kampia is “the biggest regret” of her career. “Rob Kampia is a serial sexual harasser who has been allowed to stay in his position of power because he’s good at his work,” she reportedly said.
____________________
FANTASY FOOTBALL FOR A QUEEN
An all-female fantasy football league in Cincinnati has added an interesting twist to league rules: No players who’ve been accused of abusing women are allowed, reports Cincinnati CityBeat. That’s right: If you play on She FF, you get no Ben Roethlisberger (twice accused of sexual assault), Joe Mixon (caught on camera punching a woman in the head), Ezekiel Elliott (accused of domestic violence), Tyreek Hill (pled guilty to domestic abuse charges for punching and choking his eight-weeks-pregnant girlfriend), and seven more players who’ve been banned from the league. The all-female editorial staff of Folio Weekly raises a fist in solidarity with She FF. You got it, Roger Goodell?
____________________
ROOTS WITH WOMBS
The weeks after the November 2016 election were dark times for progressive women. Some wallowed, others vented on social media, and still others closed their eyes and waited for 2020. But the best reaction by far has been to organize and take charge. Pittsburgh City Papercaught up with some fearless gals who have taken the bull by the horns and joined the grassroots resistance. One such woman, Kitty Lagorio, said that after a period of self-blame and depression, she joined the uprising that includes thousands, possibly millions, of women nationwide.
Lagorio reportedly said, “I just knew that I had to do something. … I was just so angry. My mother went to jail in Germany for cursing Hitler, and so I made a sign saying ‘Damn you Trump.’” When a local judge conveniently retired the day before the deadline to file papers to run for the seat as a Democrat, and the only person to file was not only inexperienced, but found to have extensive links to said judge, Lagorio threw in with the independent who switched parties to challenge him. She knocked on doors and sent personal letters to perspective voters. In the end, the independent won. #Resist
____________________
NEW MEANING TO JUNKET
Proving that workplace sexual harassment can come in unexpected packages, North Carolina’s Triad City Beat reports that Greensboro News & Record digital designer Kelly Young was accused of exposing his genitals to female colleagues in 2016 and 2017. Young, a proud Christian known to quote scripture, stands accused of approaching the women to discuss work matters; once he had their attention, he’d give the small (we assume) reveal.
TCB reports Young was fired in March 2017 after the second reported offense. On Dec. 13, he reportedly pled guilty to misdemeanor indecent exposure. “His sentence is court-ordered ‘counseling that involves treatment for sexual deviant behavior,’” TCB writes. Here’s a tip: Don’t EVER EVER show your colleagues your genitals.
Follow FOLIO!