State Senate President Pro Tempore Mimi Stewart unleashed a “verbal attack” on a legislative employee who claims the prominent Albuquerque Democrat screamed at her and then called her stupid, according to testimony provided Friday to a subcommittee of the interim Legislative Ethics Committee.
Special counsel Lorna Wiggins, who conducted the investigation into a harassment complaint that has thrust Stewart into an embarrassing predicament, told the subcommittee the incident occurred during the 60-day session earlier this year.
The incident left the employee, identified in the proceeding as Michelle Jaschke, who works as the Legislative Council Service’s capital outlay programs coordinator, in mental and physical anguish.
“The legislators’ anti-harassment policy provides that it’s the policy of the Legislature that all persons who work for the Legislature be able to do so in an environment in which they are treated with dignity and respect and free from all forms of harassment or discrimination,” Wiggins told the subcommittee, which concluded the public hearing by going into a closed executive session to deliberate.
“The harassment portion of the policy doesn’t limit the conduct to only discrimination that is based on someone’s protected characteristic,” added Wiggins, a labor and employment lawyer with Albuquerque-based Wiggins, Williams & Wesenberg P.C. “Instead, the policy in place provides that harassment — and I am quoting now — generally involves conduct, comment or display that a reasonable person would find insulting, intimidating, humiliating, hurtful, demeaning, degrading or that causes offense, discomfort or personal humiliation or embarrassment to a person or persons.”
Wiggins said she concluded Stewart’s conduct “would fall within the anti-harassment policy.”
‘She was downright rude’
Jaschke emailed Stewart and her secretary after 5 p.m. Feb. 27, “stating that she had not yet received Sen. Stewart’s capital outlay funding sheet and asking if the senator or her staff needed anything additional from her office to complete the sheet.”
Jaschke said she almost immediately received what she deemed a “screaming email” from Stewart in all capital letters, stating Stewart had turned in the sheet the day before, Wiggins said.
“Moments later, [Jaschke] stated she received a call from Sen. Stewart screaming at her, using what she described as pejorative language, including calling her stupid for not knowing that the sheet had already been turned in,” she said.
Jaschke reported telling Stewart she was sorry if she had missed an email containing the funding sheet. At about the same time, she received an email with a copy of the sheet.
“She further stated that the verbal attack by Sen. Stewart had affected her mental and physical well-being, that she was unable to sleep and that she called in the next day requesting sick leave,” Wiggins said, adding Jaschke was not able to work until that Sunday, three days later, “because she was still angry and upset at the interaction with Sen. Stewart.”
Ray Vargas, an attorney for Stewart, the second-longest-serving member of the Legislature, acknowledged Stewart was “downright rude” but said the incident didn’t amount to harassment.
“It was an unfortunate interaction,” he said. “Sen. Stewart, in a high stress moment, lost her cool, and she was impolite to Ms. Jaschke. No, she wasn’t just impolite. She was downright rude. What she wasn’t, though, was harassing her, certainly not under the way harassment is defined under this policy.”
‘She was beside herself’
Vargas offered the subcommittee “context about the events” leading to the blowup.
He said Feb. 26 was the deadline for lawmakers to submit their capital outlay requests, also known as pork barrel spending, in which lawmakers can bring money back to their districts for infrastructure projects of their choosing.
“Sen. Stewart had approximately $4 million in capital outlay that she was attempting to direct to her district, which is known as the Albuquerque International District. But if we’re being honest, it’s still called the War Zone in Albuquerque,” he said. “It’s one of the poorest districts in the state of New Mexico, and $4 million of capital outlay is extremely important to this impoverished district.”
Vargas said Stewart and her staff had worked for weeks on providing the capital outlay request.
“They sighed a big sigh of relief when they submitted it by 3:30 and it was due at 5 on the 26th, so imagine Sen. Stewart’s surprise when she received an email more than a day after the deadline telling her that she had not submitted her capital outlay request,” he said.
“She was beside herself,” Vargas added. “She was upset because she knew there’s no way that was true, so what did she do? She fired off an email.”
Neither Vargas nor Wiggins addressed whether Jaschke had received Stewart’s initial capital outlay request or if Stewart and her staff had dropped the ball.
Vargas called Stewart’s next move, a phone call to Jaschke, “unfortunate.”
“Make no mistake, her comments in that phone call, they were just rude,” he said. “They were heated. They were uncalled for. But they weren’t threatening, intimidating or coercive.”
Jaschke did not return messages seeking comment.
Vargas read a statement from Stewart to the subcommittee.
“I believe it’s important that we legislators treat everyone with kindness and respect, especially our staff,” she 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,” Stewart said. “I regret that I failed to do that with Michelle. When I was informed of her reaction, I sent her a letter of apology. I stand by that apology, I plan to continue to monitor my reactions to others. I’m seeing a mental health counselor now to ensure my kindness and respect for others is on solid footing, and I’m committed to always learning from others and growing in my ability to help others.”
Written order ‘forthcoming’
Richard Bosson, a retired New Mexico Supreme Court justice appointed to serve as a voting member and chair of the seven-member ethics subcommittee, said at the start of the hearing the purpose was to make a recommendation to the standing Ethics Committee of the Senate.
“This hearing subcommittee must decide by a majority vote whether, based solely on this one incident, in the words of the policy, whether a preponderance of the evidence supports that Sen. Stewart has committed an offense that justifies the imposition of sanctions,” he said.
Six senators, three Democrats and three Republicans, also sit on the subcommittee, which Bosson said “will issue a written, formal order in the near future, which will be public in due course.”
Just before 4 p.m. Friday, a tweet from the official X account of the New Mexico Legislature stated the subcommittee had completed its deliberations.
“A written order of the subcommittee’s decision will be forthcoming,” the tweet stated.