Richard COHEN (Washington Post) Gets Kid-Gloves Treatment in Harassment Case
Washingtonian ^ | June 1998 | Harry Jaffe
COHEN Gets Kid-Gloves Treatment in Harassment Case
HARRY JAFFE
Washingtonian; POST WATCH; Pg. 11
June, 1998
Devon Spurgeon is a 23-year-old reporter with movie-star looks and a nose for news.
Richard COHEN is an aging columnist who calls Ben Bradlee, Sally Quinn, and Bob Woodward his best buddies.
COHEN's crude conversations poisoned his working relationship with the young reporter in the Post's New York bureau. It also put the Post's handling of sexual-harassment complaints on public display.
And after pushing reporters to go after Bill Clinton for hiding behind his lawyers in the Monica Lewinsky affair, executive editor Len Downie consulted with Post general counsel Mary Ann Werner and now offers only "no comment" through aides.
Spurgeon comes from ranching roots in Colorado. She graduated from the University of Chicago with one desire: to report for the Post. She got an internship thanks in part to Chicago alums Bob Levey and Dave Broder.
"She struck me as exceptionally able," says Levey.
Last summer, New York bureau chief Blaine Harden hired Spurgeon to administer the seven-person office and do some reporting. She racked up 32 bylines, covered Michael Kennedy's death on the ski slopes, and broke a story about Tawana Brawley.
COHEN moved from Washington to the New York bureau last year. By all accounts, COHEN expected Spurgeon to cater to his office needs -- and get his dry cleaning. She wanted to report stories.
"It's not that she didn't like him," says one bureau reporter, "it's just that she didn't have time for him."
But COHEN had time to engage Spurgeon in conversations that made her feel uncomfortable and threatened. She took her concerns to the other reporters, who agreed that COHEN had crossed a line. Around April 1, they asked bureau chief Harden to file an official report with Downie.
"This is not a 'he said, she said,'" according to one reporter. "It's 'they said.'"
The Post dispatched deputy managing editor Milton Coleman to New York on April 3 and 6. He rented a room in the Essex Hotel and interviewed COHEN, Harden, and reporters Bob O'Harrow, Dale Russakoff, and Sharon Walsh. COHEN hired an attorney. Spurgeon went it alone.
Among the allegations reported to Coleman: COHEN asked Spurgeon to come into his office and close the door, then queried her about her generation's view of oral sex. Also at issue: a conversation where COHEN said it's too bad Bill Clinton is the only one who can grope in his office and get away with it. He also is said to have intimidated her with references to his connections with top Post editors, such as Tom Wilkinson, who can hire and fire.
No one said COHEN touched her or hit on her. Still, when Coleman asked the reporters if they considered COHEN's comments sexual harassment, three said yes.
Spurgeon was flown to Post headquarters to be questioned. Then she was given a two-week leave, which outed her and made it seem as if she was at fault -- violating the Post's policy of not causing "further embarrassment" to the aggrieved party.
Meanwhile, COHEN marshaled his old friends, including Sally Quinn, who made calls on his behalf. The Post tried to apply a gag order; Spurgeon complied, but COHEN went public.
"This is not about sex and not about harassment," COHEN told Post Watch. "It's a personality clash that got mischaracterized."
Spurgeon appealed to Broder, who came to her defense but refuses to comment publicly.
Visiting New York in April, national editor Karen DeYoung confirmed the situation was at least "a hostile working environment." But as the story went public, the Post downgraded the episode from sexual harassment to hostile working environment to "inappropriate behavior."
The result: COHEN was moved to the 22nd floor and got a personal assistant; Spurgeon got an ulcer and had to take a month's leave to gather her strength.
COHEN's public dismissal of the episode and the paper's decision not to discipline him have infuriated many women. "The message is, be really careful because you're not going to get help," says one.
If the Post wanted to put distance between COHEN and Spurgeon, it succeeded: COHEN is now out of the office, and Spurgeon is being courted by magazines, TV, and other newspapers. |
