Louisiana elections chief won’t quit amid harassment claims
BATON ROUGE, La. — Louisiana’s top elections officer rejected calls from the governor and some state lawmakers for him to resign, and said Wednesday he will fight a lawsuit claiming he sexually harassed one of his employees.
But Secretary of State Tom Schedler also said his career in public office is coming to an end. In his first public comments since the lawsuit was filed in February, a sombre Schedler announced he won’t run for re-election next year. His term ends in January 2020.
The Republican statewide elected official didn’t directly respond to any of the allegations or deny them, beyond calling the lawsuit “unfair.”
“As always, the truth lies somewhere in the middle, somewhere in the middle,” Schedler said. “All the facts will be revealed in the proper place, in the proper time. I do not intend to feed rumour mills and gossip columns.”