O.C. Sup. Lisa Bartlett, other women lodge accusations of harassment against Assemblyman Bill Brough

Orange County Supervisor Lisa Bartlett and at least three other women say Assemblyman Bill Brough made aggressive, unwanted sexual advances against them in recent years, alleged incidents that the women say continue to haunt them.

Brough, who represents Assembly District 73, denies the allegations, saying they are politically motivated.

The alleged encounter described by Bartlett was first made public during a June 17 meeting of the Orange County Republican Party and detailed in an interview Friday.

Bartlett said the incident took place in 2011, at a Dana Point hotel, when she and Brough both served on the Dana Point City Council.

As a political event was winding down, Bartlett said she was alone in a room and searching her purse for her car keys when she felt someone grab her shoulders.

When she turned, she saw the person holding her was Brough. Bartlett said Brough, still gripping her shoulders, tried to steer her out the side door, saying, “Let’s get a drink and do something.”

Bartlett said she resisted, and asked him several times to let her go. When he refused, she dipped down and wiggled free. She said she then ran to the front of the hotel restaurant to ask for the city manager.

Bartlett, now the county’s fifth district supervisor, filed a complaint in 2011 with the city of Dana Point about the alleged incident.

In a memo from the city, which Brough provided to the Register on Friday, the city attorney said he “did not have sufficient facts or evidence to come to any conclusions” at the time, with no witnesses and contradicting stories from the two council members.

Brough, R-Dana Point, denies any such encounter took place, calling the claim “slanderous” and patently “false.”

He said in an emailed statement that he believed Bartlett’s original accusation was retaliation for several city council votes. And he said he believes her decision to repeat the accusation publicly this week is “politically motivated” to pay him back for raising questions about a toll road project and to take him out as a potential opponent for a 2022 state senate bid.

“I have been on the end of many political attacks, but I will not stand for personal attacks on me and my family,” Brough said via email.

“I have done nothing wrong.”

Bartlett says she hasn’t spoken about the incident in eight years because it was a “horrible, horrible experience” that she still has nightmares about and “just wanted to forget.”

Similar allegations

Another woman, Maria Elena Banks — a Laguna Beach real estate agent who helped with campaigns for Brough, Bartlett and other county Republicans — on Friday described a similar encounter that took place in a Dana Point bar about five years ago.

Banks said Brough put his hand on her leg under her skirt and, without removing his hand, asked if he could come to her house. She said she told him no, and he dropped it.

She added that she’s motivated to speak up now, and to support Bartlett, in part because she hopes to send a message: “This has gotten to the point where I’m tired of guys doing this.”

A third woman, who has not been identified, filed a complaint against Brough with the state Assembly. The details of the complaint are not public, but a March 2018 letter from the committee, which Brough gave to the Register, says the state found “the factual findings reported by the investigator did not support a determination that (Brough) violated any Assembly policy.”

Brough said he felt vindicated by that letter, saying the outside investigator found the accusation “unsubstantiated.”

An unnamed fourth woman, who is a former staffer for another Assembly member, told the right-leaning blog RightOnDaily.com that Brough propositioned her at a bar in Sacramento. She says Brough promised political favors for her boss if she accompanied him back to his hotel.

Bartlett said she was frustrated to hear that Brough is denying all of the alleged incidents.

“You feel victimized twice,” she said.

Accusations boil over

The accusations against Brough came to light during the Republican Party of Orange County’s monthly Central Committee hearing Monday night in Costa Mesa.

The local Republican Party endorsed every other incumbent GOP state legislator back in April. But Brough was left off the early endorsement list because his seat wasn’t considered a “target” by the Democrats, since the GOP still has a 13.7 percentage point advantage in AD-73.

Brough has easily won his Assembly seat the past three election cycles.

He’s an Army veteran who served on active duty from 1986 to 1991. He then went to college and later opened his own government affairs consulting firm, which he ran from 2005 to 2014.

Brough has long been active in politics, serving as former Assemblywoman Diane Harkey’s chief of staff, as a White House liaison at the Department of Veterans Affairs, and as aide to former Rep. Christopher Cox. In 2010, he was elected to the Dana Point City Council, where he served alongside Bartlett until 2014, when they were both elected to higher offices.

The married father of two is running for a fourth term in 2020.

People who were at the meeting said Bartlett — who has held executive positions at a technology company and in several law firms — visibly shook as she recounted her allegation against Brough. The audience fell silent, they said, and the group voted unanimously to send the question of an endorsement for Brough back to the OCGOP’s endorsement committee for closed-door talks.

Bartlett said she hopes the group ultimately declines to endorse Brough.

“We want to hold our elected officials in high regard,” she said. “We can’t continue to endorse someone who utilizes his title and the power of his office to prey on women.”

Potential political fallout

Given the accusations and lack of endorsement so far from the local GOP for Brough to keep his AD-73 seat, observers are speculating that there’s an opening for a new Republican challenger or even for the heavily red district to flip to blue in 2020.

So far, initial paperwork filed with the state shows Brough is facing just one familiar challenger in 2020: Democrat Scott Rhinehart. Brough defeated Rhinehart in November with 56.2 percent of the vote — down significantly from his 2014 margin of victory, when he got 67.9 percent of the vote.

Nick Wilson, an activist who’s running to represent AD-73 on the Orange County Republican Central Committee, said the accusations against Brough have already sealed his decision for 2020.

“I won’t be supporting my Assemblyman for re-election under this cloud,” he said. “I hope someone worthy will step up, and soon.”