To Central New Yorkers:

We are a group of former staff of New York State Senator John W. Mannion.

We are writing to share our experiences of a hostile work environment — including mistreatment, harassment, and retaliation — during our time working for the Senator. We started our work with him because we wanted to make a difference in our community, but many of us have left public service due to the trauma we endured. Our allegations are serious, often sexist and homophobic in nature, and we hope that they will be taken seriously.

We have come together now to write this letter because there is still time to avoid elevating yet another abuser to high office. We are speaking out to find healing and justice, and because the public deserves to know the truth. However, we cannot be named in this forum because we know we will face further retaliation.

To start, we have been subjected to out of control yelling by Senator Mannion, often with cursing, and always with the intention of intimidating us. In one instance, the screaming was so severe, a staffer became physically ill. In another instance, one staffer, a young woman, was brought into a room alone to be verbally berated for nearly an hour. When yelling at staff, he often screamed things such as “I am the Senator” and “I am the King.”

We have also experienced direct retaliation. In one instance, a Senate staff member credibly reported sexual harassment by a coworker toward a constituent. While the case itself was handled appropriately through official channels, the staff person who made the report suffered retaliation for doing so. After the report, the Senator expressed to other staff that he no longer trusted the staffer who filed the report. In the following days, that staffer had most job duties stripped away and ultimately resigned as a result.

The Senator’s behavior was often blatantly sexist and displayed a pattern of targeting young women in particular. In one instance, the Senator told a senior staffer that his Senate office could not hire attractive women for fear of his wife, Jen Mannion, being jealous.

Mrs. Mannion would often be involved in work situations in ways that made us uncomfortable, but the Senator made it clear that we were not to push back, even when she crossed the line into harassment.

At an official Senate holiday party — held at their home — Mrs. Mannion made transphobic remarks in an attempt to ridicule a local news reporter whose coverage she did not like, saying that she had male genitals. On another occasion, Mrs. Mannion asked a staffer who identifies as LGBTQ+ whether they wore “assless chaps,” a well-known stereotype. On multiple occasions, Mrs. Mannion sent a staffer inappropriate text messages in the middle of the night meant to intimidate and threaten them. In all cases, the Senator was aware of and defended her behavior.

Unfortunately, the person that you may see presented in public is not the person who we saw behind closed doors. For a former teacher and labor leader to treat his employees with such disrespect should be especially alarming. We would like to draw attention to the hypocrisy of a politician who has based his career on protecting workers and behaves this way when given authority over his own staff.

These are a small number of the many indignities the Senator’s staff have faced. He has already left a trail of mistreated staff in his wake and has a noticeably high turnover rate in his office. This type of behavior is dismissed by some as business as usual in Albany and in Washington, but we know that it is far from acceptable. We are confident that this pattern of harm will continue should he be elevated to Congress.

Because we have a duty to protect young people in public service, we respectfully ask that those who are supporting his campaign reconsider. We are willing to cooperate with any media or other investigations. Please reach out to concernedmannionstaff@gmail.com, and we will contact you to follow up.

In Solidarity,

Concerned Former Staff

Original Source: Medium Post, June 17, 2024