Friday Grab Bag: Ethics committee hearing on Stewart 'screaming' at legislative employee

Note: We held this Friday Grab Bag until after the ethics committee hearing; as of press time, there's no announced decision.

Is yelling at a legislative employee not only rude, but a violation of the state legislature’s anti-harassment policy? That’s what legislators were tasked with deciding Friday.

Senate President Pro Tem called and yelled at a Legislative Council Service employee during this year’s legislative session, according to an anti-harassment policy complaint.

That came out during a hearing Friday afternoon, where attorneys outlined their arguments to a group of Senators tasked with deciding whether or not the conduct rose to the burden of violating the Legislature’s anti-harassment policy.

An LCS employee sent an email to Stewart late Feb. 27 afternoon that said she not turned in her capital outlay funding sheet, which was due on Feb. 26. Stewart then sent an email that said, “WE SENT IT TO YOU YESTERDAY AFTERNOON AROUND 3:30. From my secretary Fatima Gutierrez.”

She then called the employee and yelled at her.

Labor attorney Lorna Wiggins said Stewart called “screaming at her using pejorative language including calling her stupid” for not knowing her office had turned the funding sheet in before the  deadline. 

“The verbal attack by Sen. Stewart had affected her mental and physical well-being ,that she was unable to sleep and called in the next day requesting sick leave,” Wiggins said.

Ray Vargas, an attorney for Stewart, did not dispute the facts.

“Sen. Stewart in a high-stress moment lost her cool and was impolite to [the employee],” he said. “She was impolite, she was downright rude. But what she was not doing is harassing her.”

Vargas said harassment requires conduct to reach a level that “a reasonable person would find threatening, intimidating or coercive.” 

Vargas read a statement from Stewart, in which she apologized.

“I believe it's important that we legislators treat everyone with kindness and respect, especially our staff,” Stewart’s statement said. “During the legislative session, when all of us are rushed, under pressure, and tempers can flare, it's even more important to exhibit calmness and kindness. I regret that I failed to do that with [the employee].”

The statement said that she is seeing a mental health counselor “to ensure my kindness and respect for others is on solid footing.”

Wiggins disputed that the narrow definition of harassment by Vargas.

“First of all, we do have to remember that it is the purpose of this policy to ensure that employees, not fellow members, but employees of the legislature are treated with dignity and respect,” she said.

She said the conduct “was, in fact, viewed reasonably by the recipient as hurtful, demeaning, caused her discomfort. It is absolutely within a reasonable definition and using the reasonable women's standard to conclude that it was humiliating, intimidating, and insulting.”

Legislators went into a closed session to discuss their decision.

Next week in the Legislature

Interim legislative meetings continue next week, with a couple of big topics on tap, especially on Thursday and Friday in Taos with the Federal Funding Stabilization Subcommittee, where I just put every topic as a “highlight” because they’re all so important to the state budget, a likely upcoming special session and 

Science, Technology & Telecommunications Committee

July 29 & 30: Los Alamos County Council Chambers

Highlights

• July 29
  • 10:00 a.m.: Responsible Artificial Intelligence: Benefits and Risks
  • 1:30 p.m.: New Mexico Highlands University Forest and Watershed REstoration Institute (FWRI)
• July 30
  • 10:30 a.m.: LANL Update

Courts, Corrections & Justice Committee

July 30: Inn of the Mountain Gods, Mescalero

July 31: Eastern New Mexico University - Roswell

Highlights

• July 30
  • 11:00 a.m.: Possible New Crime Legislation from the Governor
• July 31
  • 11:05 a.m.: Juvenile Justice and Treatment

Federal Funding Stabilization Subcommittee

July 31 & Aug. 1: Tenderfoot Katie’s Meeting Room, Taos Ski Valley

Highlights

• July 31
  • 9:30 a.m.: State Tax Impacts of H.R.1 — The Federal One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBA)
  • 1:30 p.m.: Overview of OBBA Items Impacting New Mexico Taxes
  • 3:00 p.m.: Review of State-Federal Litigation
• Aug. 31
  • 8:00 a.m.: Medicaid Overview
  • 9:00 a.m.: Federal Budget Reconciliation and LFC Framework for Response
  • 10:30 a.m.: Update on Educational Issues and the Federal Funding Freeze