An Idaho lawmaker who the police say is the main target of a legal investigation into allegations that he raped a 19-year-old feminine legislative
An Idaho lawmaker who the police say is the main target of a legal investigation into allegations that he raped a 19-year-old feminine legislative intern final month resigned on Thursday — the identical day that an ethics committee advisable that he be suspended.
In a unanimous vote by the Home Ethics and Coverage Committee, the lawmaker, State Consultant Aaron von Ehlinger, a Republican from Lewiston, Idaho, was discovered to have engaged in “conduct unbecoming” of a consultant.
The committee mentioned as a part of a censure suggestion to the total Home that Mr. von Ehlinger, who has not been charged with against the law, must be barred from workplace with out pay for the remainder of the legislative session. The panel additionally mentioned it might help a movement to expel him from the Legislature, the place he had served for lower than a yr.
The disciplinary motion got here at some point after Mr. von Ehlinger declined to reply the committee’s questions concerning the allegations throughout a prolonged public listening to by which he invoked the Fifth Modification proper in opposition to self-incrimination.
Mr. von Ehlinger, 38, denied the allegations in a resignation letter that he despatched on Thursday to Idaho’s Home speaker, however mentioned that he wouldn’t have the ability to proceed to characterize his constituents successfully.
“I keep my innocence of any wrongdoing of which I’ve been accused on this matter, not to mention any violation of any regulation, rule, or coverage of the state of Idaho or of this physique,” he wrote. He additionally mentioned that it might be troublesome for him do his job dealing with potential expulsion.
“It’s my hope that this motion spares my good colleagues any extra issue on this matter,” the letter mentioned.
The coed intern, who testified earlier than the committee on Wednesday, instructed the Home assistant sergeant-at-arms on March 11 that Mr. von Ehlinger had sexually assaulted her after that they had dinner at a Boise, Idaho, restaurant on March 9, in response to one among her legal professionals. As a substitute of taking her again to her automobile, the lawyer mentioned, Mr. von Ehlinger drove her again to his residence and raped her.
Mr. von Ehlinger had beforehand instructed legislators in a personal interview that his sexual contact with the intern had been consensual, in response to the committee, whose members repeatedly admonished him on Thursday.
“His conduct has poisoned the status of all of us and tarnished and discredited different elected officers who serve,” Consultant Wendy Horman, a Republican from Idaho Falls, mentioned through the committee’s assembly.
The committee’s members mentioned that Mr. von Ehlinger, who’s single, had engaged in a sample of inappropriate conduct within the office, pursuing relationships with a number of feminine Home employees members, a few of whom had been subordinates.
“The consultant’s aggressive ways in direction of girls are unsettling,” Consultant John McCrostie, a Democrat from Backyard Metropolis, mentioned through the assembly.
A spokeswoman for the Boise Police Division mentioned in an e-mail on Thursday that there was an open investigation into the allegations in opposition to Mr. von Ehlinger.
Erika Birch, a lawyer for the intern, who was recognized in a grievance as Jane Doe, mentioned in an e-mail on Thursday that Mr. von Ehlinger had failed to simply accept duty for his actions.
“It’s inexcusable that he waited till his destiny was inescapable to resign,” Ms. Birch mentioned. “Whereas we’re happy he’s out of the Legislature and unable to prey on any extra younger girls at our Statehouse, his actions are merely unforgivable.”
Ms. Birch mentioned that the intern, a university scholar who graduated from highschool final yr and had been working for one more Home Republican, had been additional violated when a letter figuring out her was launched as a part of Mr. von Ehlinger’s protection. Native media retailers reported {that a} former lawyer for Mr. von Ehlinger had despatched the letter.
“Von Ehlinger may have and may have taken duty for his actions from the outset,” Ms. Birch mentioned. “As a substitute, he compelled our teenaged shopper to endure by weeks of the Ethics Committee investigation and in the end having to testify in a public listening to. Worse but, he launched his written protection with out redacting her id, which has led to a marketing campaign of harassment and bullying of her.”
Mr. von Ehlinger and his present lawyer didn’t instantly reply to requests for extra touch upon Thursday.
Appointed final June by Gov. Brad Little, a Republican, to fill a emptiness brought on by a lawmaker’s loss of life, Mr. von Ehlinger ran unopposed within the November election. In a profile final spring, The Lewiston Tribune reported that Mr. von Ehlinger had labored in its place instructor after a army profession, along with working in personal safety and actual property.
In an announcement issued on Thursday earlier than Mr. von Ehlinger’s resignation, Mr. Little mentioned that elected officers should be held to a better normal.
“I applaud Jane Doe and the opposite courageous girls for his or her braveness in telling their tales and collaborating on this course of to carry Consultant Aaron von Ehlinger accountable for his deeply damaging and shameful actions,” Mr. Little mentioned. “Consultant von Ehlinger’s inappropriate and alarming actions stand in opposition to the values and conduct state elected officers should uphold.”