Tag: Me too (hashtag)

As Florida's politically powerful men fear becoming targets of sexual harassment allegations, the new-found awareness of a male-dominated Legislature has come with a cost: women are collateral damage. "I had a senator say, 'I need my aide here in the room because I need a chaperone,' " said Jennifer Green, a veteran lobbyist, after meeting with a senator in his Capitol office to discuss a client's issue. "The culture is one that has always favored men and always put women in a place where the cards were stacked against them," said Sen. Lauren Book, a Plantation Democrat. Male lobbyists and legislators outnumber women in power and stature. " Latvala is under investigation for allegedly groping a Senate legislative aide, Rachel Perrin Rogers, putting his hand down the shirt of a female lobbyist, and making inappropriate sexual remarks to Rogers over the course of four years. Latvala denies it all and points to his reputation as a "mentor" to female lobbyists, often requesting that companies hire female lobbyists close to him and that colleagues work with them. But long before Latvala's behavior made him the target of the most serious sexual harassment claims against a sitting senator in Florida history, he already had a reputation as someone who was not only crass and insensitive but, like many of his stature, immune from reprimand. "It was very awkward," Mayfield recalled last week. "Jack speaks before he thinks a lot of the time. "Because some of the things I've seen from female colleagues and others is that when a woman doesn't call the guy out, the guy says, 'I'm going to do it again.'