Richard Cohen (Washington Post) Gets Kid-Gloves Treatment in Harassment Case

Not for commercial use. Solely to be fairly used for the educational purposes of research and open discussion.

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 "on 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.

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.

From "Inside the Beltway", 4/30/98 By John McCaslin, THE WASHINGTON TIMES, She said, she said:

"I have nothing to say" is all Milton Coleman, deputy managing editor of The Washington Post, will say.

Other Posties, however, are speaking out to Inside the Beltway -- one writer at the newspaper's New York bureau, a woman, describing a "hostile work environment."

Here's what we know:

Washington Post scribe Richard Cohen, the highly regarded syndicated columnist who more than once has scolded President Clinton for lounging in the company of Monica Lewinsky, recently had his office moved from the 12th floor of the New York bureau to the 22nd floor. There, management apparently hoped, he wouldn't be bumping into 23-year-old Devon Spurgeon.

Miss Spurgeon, a bright special correspondent who attended the University of Chicago, has worked for The Post for almost two years. Like other women her age, she has a boyfriend, who lives here in Washington.

Recently, Miss Spurgeon filed a complaint with the management, charging that Mr. Cohen, on more than one occasion and within earshot of others, had made inappropriate sexual remarks to her.

The complaint made its way from Blaine Harden, the New York bureau chief, to higher-ups here at Post headquarters, who --unlike James Carville rushing to defend the president -- flew to New York and put Mr. Cohen on the elevator to thinner air.

Moving one of the paper's most popular columnists to the loftier floor, however, did little to soothe tensions in the bureau, we're told.

Miss Spurgeon, according to one Post writer, remains "terrified" about what transpired -- not just during the reported incidents, but in the weeks following.

"Apart from the fact that there was an acknowledgment [by management] that this is a hostile work environment, nothing has happened," says the writer, a woman who works on the same floor as Miss Spurgeon. "Obviously you can see the double standard."

The writer explains that some "women at the Post are outraged, because in [Miss Spurgeon's] situation everything was overheard. This is not a 'he said, she said' situation," she says.

Furthermore, unconfirmed word reached the New York bureau that Sally Quinn, wife of former Post editor Ben Bradlee, personally "made phone calls to top people at The Post" in behalf of Mr. Cohen.

"How do you defend yourself?" asks the woman, referring to the caliber of personalities Miss Spurgeon now finds herself up against.

Miss Spurgeon "has just been brutalized by this," the writer says.

We were unable to reach Miss Spurgeon, and Sally Quinn didn't return our phone calls.

One person who did call Inside the Beltway back was Mr. Cohen. We asked him if he didn't think that a columnist of his standing being moved by Post management 10 floors away from his old office might not give an impression that he is to blame.

"I have no comment about that," he replied. (One staffer in New York says Mr. Cohen isn't the least bit pleased with how the situation has been handled.)

"I said earlier it was a personality dispute," Mr. Cohen tells us. "It's been settled. There was nothing sexual, there was no sexual harassment. I will leave it at that."

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

;-)