Senior Aide To Sen. President Peter Courtney Abruptly Resigns the Day Before Lawmakers Convene

OPB first reports the resignation of Robin Maxey, who was named in a recent state investigation into workplace harassment at the Capitol.

Sen. Peter Courtney (WW staff)
By Nigel Jaquiss

When lawmakers convene in Salem tomorrow to organize for the upcoming 2019 session, the longest serving Senate president in Oregon history, Peter Courtney (D-Salem), will be without Robin Maxey, his spokesman for the past 11 years.

Earlier this week, drawing on a recently released Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries investigation into workplace harassment in the Capitol, WW contrasted the way Courtney handled two staff issues in 2015.

When a female legislative staffer complained of unwanted attention from Maxey in May 2015, Maxey kept his job. (Maxey denied the woman's accusation.) But when Courtney's office manager, a woman, acknowledged dating a male member of the House of Representatives, she told a state investigator that in July 2015, she was offered the choice of resigning, being demoted or being fired. She was given that ultimatum even though dating a House member was allowed under legislative rules. The woman position was sent home and she was given five months pay.

Related: A Searing Investigation of Workplace Culture in the Legislature Spotlights the Actions of Oregon's Most Powerful Lawmaker: Peter Courtney

Late this afternoon, Oregon Public Broadcasting's Lauren Dake reported on Twitter that Maxey has resigned. Here's Dake's tweet:

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