BOISE, Idaho — Erika Birch thumbs through the Idaho State Legislature's 'Respectful Workplace Policy' and sees gaps that need to be filled.
"For the next person," Birch said. "It is inevitable there will be. So, let's make the process for the next person who has to come forward for something a better process."
The document outlines how lawmakers are to act, definitions of harassment, recordkeeping processes, confidentiality, and protections against retaliation.
Roughly a year ago, a jury convicted former state representative Aaron Von Ehlinger in of raping Birch's client - a then-19-year-old statehouse intern referred to as Jane Doe - after their dinner date in March 2021.
KTVB previously reported on statehouse ethics hearings that resulted in a censure of former state representative Priscilla Giddings for doxing Jane Doe, and recomendation of disciplinary action against Von Ehlinger who subsequently resigned his position.
"As far as all the harassment cases I have dealt with, it was one of the worst," Birch said. "Through my representation of her, I came to see how the legislature handled this whole process."
Birch identified multiple parts of the policy that wants updated. This includes the inherent power dynamic the building - and job as a lawmaker - creates; a unbalanced power dynamic was the focus of the prosecution's case again Von Ehlinger in his criminal trial.
"We have high school aged kids interning over at our legislature. No reason not to have a policy that says, 'as an elected official, you should not be asking out [on a date] those teenage interns or volunteers," Birch said. "It is not in writing. Had it been in writing, what happened to Jane Doe might not have happened."
Birch further points to the recordkeeping clause that states any complaint filed will be attached to the name of the complainant, not the name of the person of which the complaint was filed against. This record keeping system makes it difficult to learn if someone has multiple complaints filed against the, according to Birch.
But her biggest complaint is how investigations into complaints are conducted under this policy.
"The policy does not say - and it should say - any investigators investigating complaints of harassment should be trained on workplace investigations." Birch said. "What we saw in the Von Ehlinger case, it was the ethics committee - legislators on the house side - who were in charge of investigating that whole situation. Those folks, while well intentioned, they didn't have the training and background in how to handle those kind of investigations."
It's a sentiment shared by lawmakers within the statehouse, starting with Senate Minority Leader Melissa Wintrow (D-Boise). She consulted the Attorney General's office about necessary changes to the policy shortly after the ethics hearings; however, her efforts did not create any change to the policy.
"Because of working directly with victims and survivors, I took a special interest with the policy," Sen. Wintrow said. "So, it is important to have neutral, well-trained people to do the investigation. To present finding so then the appropriate ethics committee can make a determination without making the person harmed go through a bunch of hearings."
The Legislative Council - comprised of leaders from both parties - created the workplace policy in 2028, according to Sen. Wintrow. It would take that same council to revise and update the policy.
"I think there are people very much interested in how do we improve," Sen. Wintrow said.
Birch has tried to get in touch with multiple statehouse leaders on the council; Senate Pro Tempore Chuck Winder has expressed interest in reviewing the policy.
"If there are no changes, it opens the door to something like what happened to Jane Doe to happen again. And that would be a tragedy," Birch said. "It would be a tragedy that is easily preventable."
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