LaVota Shifts Campaign Cash to His PAC January 8, 2016

(AP) – Former Missouri Sen. Paul LeVota has transferred more than $100,000 from his campaign committee to a political action committee that lists his wife as treasurer.

Nancy LeVota filed paperwork this week to create Leadership for Missouri PAC. Paul LeVota’s campaign committee wrote a check to the PAC Wednesday for $103,589, according to filings with the Missouri Ethics Commission. The PAC’s paperwork does not list any ballot issues or candidates it supports or opposes.

Nancy LeVota was also the treasurer of the campaign committee. It was terminated the same day as the money transfer.

Paul LeVota, a Democrat from Independence, resigned his Senate seat in August following claims that he sexually harassed interns, which he has denied.

He did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.

Missouri House Speaker Calls for Mandatory Sexual Harassment Training for Legislature October 23, 2015

AP) – Missouri’s House speaker on Friday called for mandatory annual sexual-harassment training for members and staff after a state senator and the former speaker resigned amid allegations they harassed interns and exchanged sexual texts with them.
GOP Speaker Todd Richardson also wants to ban romantic relationships between House members, staff and interns. He recommends requiring an outside investigation for any sexual harassment complaints involving House members, and is proposing additional oversight for intern programs.
“These proposed policy changes are not a cure-all,” Richardson said in a statement, “but they do take significant, substantive steps toward improving the work environment in the Capitol so that interns, staff and members can have a workplace where they are treated with respect and free from harassment.”
Richardson has said review of current House policies would be a top priority since colleagues picked him to succeed Republican former House Speaker John Diehl of Town and Country, who resigned on the last day of the legislative session in May after admitting to exchanging sexually suggestive text messages with a Capitol intern.
Former Sen. Paul LeVota, an Independence Democrat, resigned months later. One intern had accused him of sexual harassment, and the July release of a Senate investigation into that intern’s complaint led another intern to come forward and claim LeVota made unwanted sexual advances toward her in 2010.
LeVota has denied the allegations

Ron Berry Gets Old Job Back, But No Boss August 25, 2015

(AP) – A Missouri Senate staff member was back at work Tuesday, a month after being fired by a senator who was facing allegations of sexually harassing interns.
Democratic Sen. Paul LeVota fired his chief of staff, Ron Berry, on July 24 shortly before LeVota announced his own resignation. Berry’s dismissal was immediate, but LeVota’s resignation didn’t take effect until this past Sunday.
With his former boss now gone, the Senate re-hired Berry as chief of staff for the vacant 11th Senatorial District, which covers LeVota’s hometown of Independence and other parts of the Kansas City area.
“Ron Berry has positive work experiences in state government and is locally connected to the 11th District,” Senate Administrator Marga Hoelscher said in a short written statement provided to The Associated Press. “Ron will assist current staff with constituent issues pertaining to the district.”
Under Senate rules, individual senators have authority to hire and fire their own staff. But when an office is vacant, employment decisions are made by the Senate. Hoelscher said she re-hired Berry with the support of the chamber’s top senators.
Berry declined to comment Tuesday about his re-hiring.

LeVota’s Relations with Top Advisor Strained Before Firing July 29, 2015

Relations between Jackson County State Senator PaulLeVota and his Chief of Staff Ron Berry were strained in the week’s leading up to Berry’s firing late Friday afternoon, according to sources.

The St. Louis Post Dispatch reports LeVota fired Berry via e-mail Friday afternoon. Less than two hours later, LeVota announced his own resignation.

LeVota says he resigned because the allegations of sexually harassing female interns, including University of central Missouri student Alissa Hembree, who worked for him were distracting him from his job.
LeVota maintains he did nothing wrong.

A report from the student’s school, the University of Central Missouri, stated the “preponderance of the evidence supports that the Senator engaged in unwelcome sexual advances and made unwelcome sexual comments directed against Ms. Hembree”

Sources say LeVota believes Berry mishandled the of case of former intern..

A Senate report on the incident says Hemrbee went to Berry a week after LeVota made unwanted sexual advances toward her in late January, 2015.

The report says Hembree told Berry she wanted to keep the incident “off the record”.

The sources say LeVota did not think Berry had had that option of keeping the charges confidential. LeVota believed Berry was boundas a Senate employee to report what he was told to Senate authorities, according to the Senate’s policy against harassment on the job..

The senate report, described Berry as, “the primary contact for student interns in LeVota’s office”

But sources say Berry did not feel he had a supervisory roles, despite the Chief of staff title.Some think Berry felt cut off from the office, especially in the final days.

A source close to Sen. LeVota said the senator had lost confidence in Berry because Berry differed with LeVota in public over policy issues.

Normally a Chief of Staff is considered a lawmaker’s most trusted advisor.

McCaskill Questions LeVota’s Ability to Continue in Office July 24, 2015

Missouri’s Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill is one of the latest to question the political future of Independence State Senator Paul LeVota.
Two former interns say LeVota, a married man, made unwanted advances toward them and sent them unwanted suggestive messages.
McCaskill issued a brief statement Thursday evening:
““Two young women have come forward with serious allegations against Senator Paul LeVota, some of which have been corroborated by evidence of text messages. I believe Senator LeVota needs to seriously consider whether he can continue to serve.”
Missouri Democratic Governor Jay Nixon is also questioning LeVita’s ability to continue to serve.
LeVota says he has done nothing wrong.