Windy Boy named as harassing texter who led to new rules in Legislature

Staff and wire

A former legislative leader and a current one have said Rep. Jonathan Windy Boy, D-Box Elder, was the source of texts that led to a report that led to the Montana Legislature adopting a new policy for reporting and investigating harassment, discrimination and retaliation involving lawmakers and legislative employees, The Associated Press reports.

The article says both former Speaker of the House of Representatives Austin Knudsen, a Culbertson Republican, and Bozeman Republican Scott Sales, the Senate president, confirmed that Windy Boy was the subject of the report.

Windy Boy had not by this morning responded to calls and emails sent by the Havre Daily News Friday requesting comment. His telephone went to voice mail, which gave a message saying it was full and could not accept new messages.

The Associated Press reports Windy Boy declined to comment before the House floor session Friday and referred questions to his attorney.

Rep. Jacob Bachmeier, D-Havre, said he obtained a copy of the redacted report and could not confirm Windy Boy was the subject.

Bachmeier said the behavior in the report is "horrible and must be addressed."

"My sympathy goes to the victim of the harassment," he said Friday in a message to the Havre Daily. "People deserve to be treated with dignity. The horrible behavior of harassment is never acceptable."

Montana Sens. Russ Tempel, R-Chester, and Mike Lang, R-Malta, and Rep. Casey Knudsen, R-Malta, all told the Havre Daily that they did not have information on the report and could not comment.

Rep. Joshua Kassmier, R-Fort Benton, had not responded by printing deadline today to a request for comment.

The Havre Daily has requested a copy of the report for its review.

The report was obtained by The Associated Press through a public-records request, AP reports. The Legislature's Legal Services Office released a redacted copy of the March 2018 investigative report by Great Falls attorney Jean Faure that recommended legislative leaders take action against the lawmaker who sent the texts between August and October 2017 before the harassment could happen again.

Jenny Eck, a former lawmaker who was the leader of the House Democrats until last year and who co-authored the new harassment policy, said legislative attorneys advised her not to comment, Associated Press reports.

House Democratic leaders said in a statement that they were "shocked and disappointed to learn that a member of our caucus, an elected official in a position of power, harassed another individual."

"This behavior is completely unacceptable," the statement written by the minority party's leaders and released by spokeswoman Monica Robinson said.

Windy Boy, a former member of the Chippewa Cree Business Committee at Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation, lost a bid last fall to be re-elected to the committee, but defeated Republican G. Bruce Meyers in November's race for his House seat, retaining the seat with 2,234 votes to Meyers' 1,351.

He represents House District 32, which runs from the northeast corner of Chouteau County through southern Hill, Blaine and Phillips counties and includes Rocky Boy's and Fort Belknap Indian reservations.

He was first elected to the House in 2002 and has won every re-election since, serving in the 2003, 2005 and 2007 legislative sessions. He then forbore running for a fourth term in the House, instead winning two terms representing a Senate district that ran from Chouteau County to the eastern part of the state and included the Fort Peck as well as the Rocky Boy's and Fort Belknap Indian reservations.

After terming out in the Senate, Windy Boy again ran for the House, winning in 2016 and 2018.

He has passed some major legislation while in office, including one of his bills in the 2017 session being the vehicle for the legislative proposals addressing suicide and a bill in 2005 creating a water treatment fund for the heap-leach mines in Zortman and Landusky which still are being treated today.

He also has supported some controversial positions, such as trying to revise the state rules on funding charter schools.

The report stated the offender was "in a position of influence and power," AP said.

"The offensive conduct is subtle but evident," Faure wrote. "A pattern of these behaviors appears established."

The investigator wrote that the situation was likely to repeat itself and recommended legislative leadership take action. Faure recommended a written warning and training "at a minimum."

Austin Knudsen confirmed to the AP that Windy Boy was the legislator named in the report and that he and other legislative leaders from both parties discussed how they should discipline Windy Boy.

"There was discussion about taking harsher action, but legally nobody had any authority to do anything," said Knudsen, who is no longer in the Legislature. "We couldn't remove him from office, we couldn't censure him because we weren't in session. I, as speaker of the House, had the authority to remove him (as committee chairman)."

Democratic legislative leaders requested to be allowed to speak to Windy Boy before any disciplinary action was taken, Knudsen said, adding that Windy Boy resigned as chairman of the State-Tribal Relations Committee shortly after that and before he could be stripped of the position as punishment.

A legislative newsletter from April 2018 said Windy Boy resigned from the committee "due to work-related commitments."

The investigative report by Faure blacked out the names of the lawmakers and witnesses, citing privacy interests, but detailed most of the text messages sent to the female lawmaker between mid-August and October 2017.

The texts sent between August and October 2017 called the recipient "gorgeous," and "A wonderful sight for My Sore Eyes," AP reports.

In one exchange the recipient was concerned about overstepping boundaries in resolving an issue. The offender responded, "Well. Just know, between you and me. You can step all over me and there is no boundaries."

Earlier this month, the Legislature passed the new policy on reporting and investigating harassment, discrimination and retaliation involving lawmakers and legislative employees. It allows for confidential reporting and investigation of claims and sets penalties for violators.

Knudsen said the investigation's results showed him the need for the new policy.

"That certainly turned my vote around," he said.

Sales said he knew the complaint involved Windy Boy, but he didn't handle it because it involved a member of the House, not the Senate.

In late 2017, Sales had argued the Legislature didn't need a new anti-harassment policy, but he changed his mind and voted for it. He said Friday that the Windy Boy case "did influence my decision to some extent."

AP reports that the recipient made the complaint against Windy Boy in January 2018 after reading a news article about sexual harassment in the Legislature, Faure's report said. Either the victim or another person sent the offender a message on Jan. 9, 2018, that the past text messages were inappropriate and should "cease and desist," the report said.

The offender responded with an apology and said that if the "behavior came across as inappropriate, it would never happen again."

Faure's report also indicated the offender sent text messages to a legislative staffer in January and February 2017 which said: "You looked beautiful yesterday" and another that said: "BTW you look gorgeous today." The staffer apparently mentioned the text messages to someone and was told to "steer clear" of that lawmaker.

Any further text messages from the lawmaker to the staffer "were strictly professional," the report said.