After a group of mostly female Democrats called on former state Representative Joe Delorenzo to resign from his post as Second Vice Chair of the state Democratic Party yesterday, Delorenzo took to the airwaves and belittled one of the letter writer’s allegations that she was sexually harassed at the State House, which came to light earlier this week.
Speaking to John DePetro on WADK in Newport, Delorenzo dismissed Rep. Teresa Tanzi’s explosive allegation of sexual harassment at the State House, saying the accusation fits a progressive narrative.
“My first reaction is it goes right into the narrative that the far left wants portrayed out there,” Delorenzo told DePetro. “Everything is sexual harassment today. If a woman walks into my office and I say to her, ‘boy, you look really nice in that dress,’ – sexual harassment. A woman walks in that I know – and we do this all the time, John – put your arm around her, giver her a kiss on the cheek – sexual harassment, sexual harassment.”
Tanzi, according to the Providence Journal, said, “I have been told sexual favors would allow my bills to go further.” The allegation caused House Speaker Nick Mattiello to immediately require sexual harassment training prior to the next legislative session.
As did many Republicans yesterday, Delorenzo implored Tanzi to name the person who she says harassed her. “If that happened to Teresa Tanzi, name him,” Delorenzo said. “Tell us who it is. If she’s making that accusation against someone, point him out.” He added, “”And if there’s a bill that did pass and you did, we want to know that, too.”
He said Tanzi may have misconstrued a compliment for sexual harassment.
“Someone might have said ‘Teresa, your hair looks good’ and I’ve met her maybe twice in my life ‘Oh, you’ve harassed me.’ But as far as going out there and saying ‘oh, for sexual favors, we’ll pass your bill.’ Eh, I don’t think so.”
Tanzi could not be immediately reached for comment on Delorenzo’s characterization of her allegations.
Tolulope Kevin Olasanoye, executive director of the Rhode Island Democratic Party, who is out of town at a Democratic National Committee meeting, said he has heard about Delorenzo’s AM radio remarks, but has not had the chance to listen yet.
“Joe Delorenzo does not speak for the party,” Olasanoye said. “There is no place for sexual harassment anywhere in our society. Certainly the chairman, the speaker of the House and everyone else associated with the Democratic Party do not condone that type of behavior.”
Olasaoye said he will comment further after listening to the interview.
Delorenzo said he never witnessed sexual harassment at the State House when he was a legislator representing Cranston and Warwick in the 1970’s and 1980s. “I spent 20 years in that building,” Delorenzo said. “I never saw anybody proposition any woman in that house and say ‘hey, you do this…’
A group of mostly female elected officials suggested in a letter yesterday that Delorenzo should resign. A Change.org petition has also been created calling for his resignation.
Delorenzo declined to comment to RI Future yesterday. The AM radio interview was first highlighted on Twitter by Brad Hevenor, a critic of Delorenzo’s.
D’you suppose Delorenzo puts his arm around men’s waists and kisses them on the cheek, too?
I don’t think he does.
I ALSO doubt he asks women for their CONSENT before grabbing them and putting his lips on their bodies.
Gross.
Grabbing and/or kissing without explicit permission goes BEYOND sexism, and BEYOND harassment. Now you’re in sexual ASSAULT territory, Delorenzo.
How old are you? And you still don’t understand consent? Do you have grandkids or great-grandkids who could smarten you up about consent? Hm?? Or can you maybe just TRUST WOMEN WHEN WE TELL YOU SEXUAL HARASSMENT AND ASSAULT IS A FUCKING PROBLEM FOR ALL WOMEN, and as a “Democrat,” it’s your JOB to DECREASE HUMAN SUFFERING, not MOCK people reporting a predator?
Jesus Christ, I DO grow tired of repeating myself.
Educate yourself, Delorenzo. Then issue your OWN apology, in public, on camera, to Tanzi. And don’t fucking lay a hand on her.
And for the love of God, PUBLICLY DENOUNCE SEXUAL HARASSMENT AND ASSAULT, DELORENZO. Stop complaining about how distressed YOU are that women are calling this predatory behavior out.
Otherwise you sound like a Trump.
P.S. Try BELIEVING WOMEN instead of calling us liars. It’s a game-changer.
Sexual favors do get offered to help advance bills at the State House. So Tanzi is credible when she says it sometimes goes the other way: she was told that sexual favors will help advance her bills. Rings true to me. Attorney General Kilmartin and the state police claim they’re doing an investigation, but they’ve often tended to go easy on political corruption if it turns out high-ranking people are involved. This is sexual harassment as well as political corruption, but I doubt Kilmartin, the state police, and the media would even treat sexual harassment charges as a big deal if it wasn’t someone of rank like Tanzi making the accusation. Even so, Tanzi is still a considerable distance from the top of the State House hierarchy, and there was some risk involved in her speaking out — she’s an “insider”, as she proudly says, and often feels she has to keep on the good side of higher-ranking people. Rep. Edie Ajello mentioned that this kind of sexual harassment/political corruption has been going on for a long time. If Tanzi decided that this moment, after Harvey Weinstein got exposed, was a relatively safe time to speak out, she will need some support, since otherwise the message will be sent that it’s still not safe for women to speak out against predatory behavior by powerful or older men.
Joe DeLorenzo, a leader of the RI Democratic Party, makes the unbelievable claim that maybe there’s nothing more to Tanzi’s story than that someone said something inappropriate about her appearance. Absolutely false. Tanzi was quite clear that she was told that her bills wouldn’t go further unless she did something sexual. DeLorenzo must think we voters are big enough fools that we can’t tell the difference. Are we really willing to let high-ranking political operatives like DeLorenzo mislead us into accepting a distorted, relatively innocuous version of Tanzi’s disturbing story? People like DeLorenzo are certainly used to misleading the people and making bad deeds sound innocent, but he definitely went too far here. He’s doing the same kind of thing that Harvey Weinstein’s staff did, and if he gets away with it, it will only make room for more sexual harassment and corruption. What was said to Tanzi — sexual favors would allow her bills to go further — is a serious, hurtful attack on her sexual autonomy as well as her personal integrity. It’s an example of what people at the State House are told is “the way we do things here”, replacing democracy with service to insider elites. The leadership of the RI Democratic Party, as Joe DeLorenzo exemplifies, is glad to enable this kind of treatment even of relatively powerful women like Tanzi, while they don’t even notice the worse stuff that happens to less high-ranking people.