Last month, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds fired her former ally and friend Dave Jamison who was the executive director of the Iowa Finance Authority (IFA) because of credible allegations of sexual harassment.
Over the last month, various media outlets questioned how credible the allegations were and asked about the nature of the complaints. The Governor’s office said out of respect for the victim’s privacy they did not want to release the information.
On Thursday, Reynold’s office released a letter written on March 21, first published by The Des Moines Register, that was received by her office on March 23 detailing Jameison’s behavior which the unnamed state employee who wrote the letter said she had endured for years and that it was escalating. He was fired less than 24 hours later.
“I am terrified about coming forward, but his behavior is escalating and has to stop. It is not safe for women to be around him. I literally don’t feel safe,” she wrote to Governor Reynolds.
She gave in the letter that has been redacted to protect the identity of victims some examples of “many, many incidents” that occurred over the years. Here are just a few of the tamer accusations:
- She said shortly after she was hired Jamison would talk to her about how horrible his home life was and frequently complained about his sex life.
- He would share about how he would frequent Asian massage parlors.
- He would make comments about the employee’s breasts.
- He attempted to get the employee to go to his hotel room.
- He would ask her inappropriate questions.
- He would share sexist and racist jokes. He turns employee comments into sexual innuendos.
- He said to her “I bet you’re naughty,” and “I bet you’re so dirty.”
- He makes sexual comments about women he sees or knows.
The letter was extremely detailed outlining numerous alleged incidents. It lists corroborating witnesses and victims which lends to its credibility. The state employee also said that Brian Crozier, IFA’s Chief Executive Officer reprimanded Jamison to which Jamsion replied, “You must be allergic to a paycheck.”
Jamison, according to the state employee, was also warned by IFA’s General Counsel Mark Thompson.
The Governor’s office could easily have received confirmation from Crozier and Thompson.
The employee said Jamison knew what he was doing was considered sexual harassment and said to her, “You know you could sue me.”
“I know you are friends with Dave and I hate to put this on your shoulders, but I just can’t take it anymore,” the employee wrote to Reynolds. She was afraid that if she complained to the Iowa Department of Administrative Services nothing would be done.
You can read the letter (Warning: Graphic Language) here.
