SALEM, Ore. (KGW) – Oregon Governor Kate Brown called on Republican State Senator Jeff Kruse to resign after a report by an independent investigator found he repeatedly subjected women to uncomfortable hugging and unwanted touching, sometimes even on the Senate floor or in the governor’s office.
House Speaker Tina Kotek also called for his resignation Tuesday, saying in a statement to NBC affiliate KGW 8, that if he does not step down then “the Senate should expel him.”
The 51-page report, compiled by private attorney Dian Rubanoff, found that Kruse exhibited a “long-standing pattern” of “engaging in unwelcome physical contact toward females in the workplace.”
Rubanoff added that though Kruse, 66, was repeatedly confronted about his behavior, “he stubbornly refused to change.” Kruse told Rubanoff, “It’s not easy to change when you have been doing something for 67 years.”
The investigation came after two Democratic Oregon state senators, Senator Sara Gelser and Senator Elizabeth Steiner Hayward, publicly accused Kruse of sexual harassment last fall.
In her official complaint at the time, Gelser said Kruse touched her inappropriately on the breast and upper thigh both while on the House and Senate floors and in committee hearings. She also said that sometimes he would whisper so closely to her ear, it would be wet when he pulled away. She also alleged that Kruse sexually harassed at least 15 other women.
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