One of the recurring criticisms of OKGOP Chairman Tom Daxon's leadership, is his aloofness and silence in advancing the agenda of his party within the state. Mr. Daxon seems to have chosen to be the chief bureaucrat of his party instead of its leader. Granted, his party controls the House and has a tie in the Senate with very capable leaders, but the GOP doesn't control the governor's mansion. It is relatively understood that at the national and state level, the president and the governors are the de facto leaders of their parties. Mr. Daxon has abdicated that leadership responsibility to his legislative leaders. His silence has been deafening in regards to the separate Jeff McMahan, Drew Edmondson, and Gene Stipe scandals. Many within his party have been asking why? Many have speculated that the sexual harassment lawsuit the Oklahoma Corporation Commission lost while he was Acting General Administrator, is the reason Mr. Daxon purposely has chosen to stay in the background. The Oklahoma Political News Service has obtained the Letter of Determination and the sworn affidavit of the former employee who was terminated for complaining of sexual harassment and gender discrimination. Below is from the U.S Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's determination letter:

"[The] investigation revealed sufficient evidence to establish that charging party was retaliated against for engaging in protected activity....She was subsequently discharged, and investigation has established a causal connection between protected activity and adverse action taken. Respondent's justification for the discharge is not believable and has been considered by the Commission as pretext to cover retaliatory motive."

The former employee makes disturbing allegations against Mr. Daxon regarding her very first meeting with him:

"On February 4th, 2003, pursuant to Mr. Daxon's request, I met with he and Clark Musser, General Counsel for the agency....Tom Daxon asked who maintained our agency's website. I advised him that basically I was the webmaster with the assistance of a part time hourly employee. Tom Daxon then Laughed and referred to me as the "Web Mistress." Clark Musser looked at Mr. Daxon and said he could not believe he said that. I was completely insulted and distraught to think a new supervisor would make such a statement the first time he meets with a new employee."

She later describes her second meeting with Mr. Daxon:

"On February 24th, I had a second one -on- one meeting with Tom Daxon....Mr. Daxon then proceeded to ask me about the agencies (sic) Internet policy and as I began to discuss our policies, he interrupted me stating that he was referring to pornographic activity. I explained the policy and procedures and that we had software that logged all all Internet activity and provided reports of illegal activity. Tom Daxon then asked if the agency had persons that had shown up on the report. I told him we had several people that had appeared on the report and most people would show up once, then not show up again...Tom Daxon continued to ask about specifics and wanted to know what kind of porn web sites. Mr. Daxon continued to want to know about particular porn sites...Tom Daxon preceeded to tell a story of his wife telling him that she thought that their two boys had been visiting porn sites on their home computer. Mr. Daxon then stated that he decided to get into the boy's computer and see what sites they were visiting. I told Mr. Daxon in somewhat of an angry tone that I too had a teenage son and a computer at home, but that I would just check the cookies listing and not visit the sick porn sites. Tom Daxon continued with his disgusting story of viewing the pornographic websites that his children had visited. Tom Daxon explained how the naked women had beautiful, tight bodies with large breasts and firm butts. Mr. Daxon again talked about their breasts saying thats these women were very well endowed. Mr. Daxon even compared these naked women to me, saying that I was a very attractive woman. Tom Daxon described this for some time and at one point laughed and said that he was getting excited and aroused while looking at them as they were so erotic."

Tomorrow: We will post the entire affidavit.

Labels: Tom Daxon

Posted at 4/10/2007 09:55:00 AM