Former Montana Gov. and Democratic Governors Association chairman Steve Bullock knew full well that a staffer who worked for New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio had previously been accused of sexual harassment. Kevin O’Brien was fired from the DGA over sexual harassment complaints back in December 2015. Yet, when O'Brien was hired to work for De Blasio in 2016, Bullock failed to inform the mayor's office about his scandalous past and O'Brien was fired for similar reasons again in 2017.
Bullock knew about O'Brien's behavior back in 2015, De Blasio only learned about it as a result of a New York Times report. He is, as you can imagine, furious.
“Clearly they had information and when DOI reached out, they did not share the information they had,” the mayor said on Wednesday.
Bullock's reasons for not telling De Blasio are even more outrageous. Here's how Bullock's spokeswoman Ronja Abel explained it:
“Bullock did not tell de Blasio about the dismissal because he believed O'Brien would not harass women again after his firing from the Democratic Governors Association,” she said.
You can't make this up.
After O'Brien was again fired for sexual harassment in New York, Bullock admitted he should have done more to hold his former staffer accountable.
“It’s clear that was not enough to protect these women from what has proven to be an unacceptable pattern of behavior on his part," Bullock said. "We all have a responsibility to do better and to put an end to sexual harassment, and I’m committed to doing my part.”