State report describes explicit harassment by former IFA director David Jamison
BPC Staff Sep 21, 2018 | 4:00 pm
1 min read time
256 wordsAll Latest News, Government Policy and LawEmployees who reported sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior by former Iowa Finance Authority director David Jamison were credible, according to a report released Thursday by the Weinhardt Law Firm. Jamison was fired by Gov. Kim Reynolds in the spring. Investigators state that IFA employees “likely believed that they would be fired if they ever spoke out against Mr. Jamison.” Jamison flatly denied most of the accusations, the report said. The report describes explicit behavior and sexual and racist comments by Jamison toward staff members, including describing trips to massage parlors for “happy endings,” making obscene or sexually suggestive gestures toward female employees, and frequently asking female employees sexual questions at conferences or during drinks with co-workers. “The events described in the report should not have occurred under any circumstance and will not be tolerated,” Iowa Finance Authority Interim Executive Director Carolann Jensen said in a news release about the report. “Providing a safe work environment for our staff is paramount and I’m committed to ensuring that happens moving forward.” The report states that both witnesses felt unsafe in their workplace. It also found that following Jamison’s firing by Reynolds, Wes Peterson, the director of government affairs for the IFA, whom investigators said was often referred to as Jamison’s “drinking buddy,” called one of the witnesses at her home one evening and yelled at her while attempting to learn if she was one of the witnesses. Reynolds said in a release that there would be changes to the state harassment reporting process in cases against a director.