On Thursday night, the Associated Press unveiled a bizarre new standard of disclosure and non-disclosure in sexual harassment allegations.
In a story on a sexual harassment complaint against Joseph Rogers, the CEO of Waffle House, AP reporter Kate Brumback would not name the accuser, since "The Associated Press does not identify alleged victims of sexual harassment." But it does somehow find it relevant and worth disclosing the unrelated information that the alleged sexual harasser made donations to Mitt Romney in 2011 and 2012:
ATLANTA (AP) — A former female employee has filed a police complaint alleging the CEO of Waffle House demanded she perform sexual acts on him in exchange for keeping her job.
The woman told Atlanta police the alleged harassment by Joseph Rogers Jr. lasted for nearly 10 years, from 2003 through June of this year. The Associated Press does not identify alleged victims of sexual harassment.
David Cohen, who identified himself as a lawyer representing the woman, told the AP that the man cited in the police report is the CEO of Waffle House, a company based in metro Atlanta. And the home address given for Rogers in the police report matches that listed on the Federal Election Commission's website alongside donations the CEO made to unsuccessful presidential candidate Mitt Romney in June 2011 and May of this year.
AP could cite the FEC records without being quite so specific -- and if Rogers were an Obama donor, somehow it seems plausible that AP would find it completely irrelevant.
Somehow AP restrained itself from cracking that it's natural that a flip-flopper like Romney would win support from Waffle House.
