Madison Kwiecinski – Editor-in-Chief 

Mvk5945@psu.edu 

Andi Perez, who is a lobbyist for one of Pennsylvania’s most prominent unions, has stated that a shooting House Lawmaker in PA sexually harassed her. Perez is now pushing to have the legislature expand their internal rules in order to allow for more people outside the legislature to bring forth misconduct complaints. 

This session of the PA legislature is particularly interesting, because in a typical year the House’s operation procedure is typically adopted at the very beginning of each session. Due to some seats in the PA House going to a special election, the legislature has been unable to come to a conclusion of which party controls the chamber, and therefore cannot move forward with the process of governing. 

The new state House Speaker, Mark Rozzi, a Democrat from Berks county, has taken advantage of this standstill by hosting a series of public forums in which the public can provide feedback on their opinions of the state House’s operating procedures. This gives Pennsylvanians a rare but unique opportunity to use this government standstill in their favor, directly getting to weigh in on their legislature’s rules. 

Perez’s allegations of misconduct among a member of the state legislature was brought forth Friday at one of these open forums. She stated that she was harassed by a male lawmaker outside of the capitol building while she was discussing a bill. Perez has not provided the name of the man or his political affiliation at this time. 

Perez has stated that the lawmaker “decided to caress my leg while I was wearing a skirt all the while telling me he was impressed by my passion and knowledge of the issues we were discussing,” Perez said. “I moved away from him hoping he would stop – he did not.” 

The harassment in such a public place, especially one in which she was just trying to do her job was shocking. Perez advocated on behalf of the Service Employees International Union 32BJ in Harrisburg. 

“I could sit here for hours telling you the range of emotions I felt after this,” Perez continued. “Of course I was full of rage at the disrespect and arrogance it requires to so brazenly sexually harass me in a public place where I am just trying to do my job for the workers in my union.” 

On Friday after she spoke at the forum, Rozzi briefly thanked Perez for her “bravery,” and stated “I promise that will be another issue we review in our rules moving forward.” 

There was a spokesperson there to represent both the PA GOP and the House Democrats. Nicole Reigelman, the spokesperson for the House Democrats stated “There have been situations in the past, and unfortunately, we know that they are possible in the future,” she continued. “While progress was made through rules changes adopted in 2019, we continue working to develop a broader set of rules to ensure a fair process for claims of harassment and discrimination – for all protected classes – to be included in the rules finally adopted for this session.” 

The GOP spokesperson also at the event stated they were not aware of the referenced allegation prior. 

In 2019, the PA House leadership added protections in the workplace to the chamber’s rules for the first time in history, banning any, “unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors or other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual manner.” 

This change in 2019 was only made after two women accused a sitting member of the legislature of physical and sexual abuse, though that man continued to serve until his term was completed. One of the two women he harassed was also a member of the legislature, and had to have a restraining order taken out against him. 

The 2019 law, although, does not provide any protection at all for those outside of the legislature. There are so many categories of people who regularly engage with members of the House who do not fall within this category, ranging from lobbyists like the woman mentioned here to journalists to the everyday constituent. 

Perez spoke out to push for legislatures to have to have consequences for sexual harassment regardless of whether or not the person who files the complaint is a part of the House themselves. 

“No one is above the law,” Perez said. “A lawmaker who harasses someone should be held accountable by their own peers through an Ethics process.”