Capitol harassment: Here are the detailed allegations against current and past Iowa lawmakers and staff members

Here are the specific allegations made against current and past Iowa lawmakers and legislative staff members as part of more than 1,000 pages of court depositions taken last year in the Kirsten Anderson wrongful termination case.

Anderson, a former Iowa Senate Republican staffer, was fired in 2013, soon after she reported workplace misconduct. A jury last year awarded her $2.2 million after the case went to trial, and she subsequently settled for $1.75 million.

More on harassment at the Capitol:

• Lewd, intimidating conduct has created a 'toxic' Statehouse, staffers and lawmakers say
• Iowa lawmakers admit they lag on curbing sexual misconduct. They're not alone.
• Nate Boulton's case will test new Senate ethics rules

About two-dozen people provided testimony under oath as part of depositions in the case. Here's a summary of their allegations.

Allegations involving Jim Friedrich, a former GOP staffer

The accusations

• Friedrich referred to women in the office as "c----", a profane term for female genitalia.
• Friedrich allegedly told Sen. Tim Kapucian, R-Keystone, that Sen. Janet Petersen, D-Des Moines, has sexual prowess in her past.
• Friedrich teased Anderson about going home for a “pickle tingle,” asking if she was leaving work to engage in “nooners” with her husband. 
• In a staff meeting, Friedrich alleged that a job applicant “likes the rhythm.” When his boss asked what that meant, Friedrich responded: "She likes the black d---."
• Friedrich would watch porn and show it to female coworkers. 
• Friedrich told a female staff member her nipples were showing through her blouse. 
• Several senators knew for years of problems concerning Friedrich. Former Senate Secretary Mike Marshall said others told him that Friedrich had a "quirky and at times inappropriate” sense of humor.

Where he is now

Friedrich resigned Sept. 13, 2017, about five years after some of the accusations were first reported. The GOP would not say whether Friedrich was forced to resign. Friedrich did not respond to requests for comment.

"I felt so ashamed, I didn’t even want to mention these things. I felt so defeated. What would even be the point of having a heart-to-heart with a habitual offender?" Kirsten Anderson on why she didn’t confront Friedrich.

Allegations involving Sen. Shawn Hamerlinck

The accusations

• Hammerlinck talked about the size of a lobbyist's breasts. 
• He asked a staffer about the size of her nipples while on the Senate floor, according to multiple staffers. “I was humiliated,” legislative staffer Pam Dugdale said in her deposition.  
• He said most women lobbyists are “big flirts,” naming one he believed was exceptionally flirty.
• He discussed how short the pages’ skirts appear.
• One staff member described hearing him talk about women’s body parts and described him acting like a "frat boy."
• Sen. Jerry Behn asked Hamerlinck not to drink while he was in the Senate chambers. At one point, Behn brought a breathalyzer to his office and had a deal with Hamerlinck where he would have him come up and take the test. Behn said he didn’t use the breathalyzer. 
• Asked a lesbian legislative staff member intimate details about her sex life.

Hamerlinck also was named as a defendant in a lawsuit alleging age discrimination filed in December 2016. Clinton County agreed to pay former employee Roberta Bernarda $75,000 in October 2017 to settle the case.

Where he is now

Hamerlinck ran for a second term in 2012, losing his senate seat to Democrat Chris Base of Muscatine. Hamerlinck is now the chairman of the Clinton County Board of Supervisors, first elected in 2014. He was defeated this year in the Republican primary for Clinton County treasurer by incumbent Rhonda McIntyre. He did not respond to requests for comment.

"What I tried to do is talk to him about not drinking when he was at the chamber.” — Sen. Jerry Behn about the efforts he made, including having a breathalyzer at his desk, to help control Hamerlinck's drinking.

Allegations involving Sen. Merlin E. Bartz

The accusation

• Bartz made comments about the dress or appearance of some female staffers.

Where he is now

Bartz was defeated in the 2012 election by Democrat Mary Jo Wilhelm. He won a special election in January 2015 to the Worth County Board of Supervisors.

Bartz said he believes comments attributed to him may have been in response to what he thought was a casual conversation about appropriate apparel for the Senate floor dress code.

"I remember when Mary Kramer was Senate president (1997-2003) and gave a presentation to our caucus about professionalism and the need to treat all staff with respect. That was my motto," Bartz said. "If Kirsten (Anderson) attributed something to me, it certainly was not meant in any negative way."

“He would enlighten me on which way he liked me to wear my hair, how I looked, and that the shoes that I was wearing, if they were classy or, in his opinion, appropriate for the Senate," Kirsten Anderson said.

Allegations involving Ed Failor Jr.

Failor was the senior aide to former Iowa Sen. Majority Leader Bill Dix

The accusations

• Kirsten Anderson said Failor Jr. became critical of her and she felt she couldn’t report the full extent of the harassment at the Iowa Senate. 
• Anderson said he would comment about her clothing and once told her she was wearing “bowling shoes.” 
• Anderson said Failor Jr. began raising questions about her work after she complained or spoke against harassment involving other staff members. 
• A woman staffer (not Anderson) filed a civil rights complaint against Failor Jr. for a comment she said made her feel uncomfortable. Failor Jr. acknowledged in a deposition that he said to the staffer: "If I was single and you had an older sister, I would marry her tomorrow." 
• Friedrich, a legislative staffer who was accused of misconduct in Anderson's lawsuit, said the use of pornography in the office was reported to Failor Jr. but he did nothing about it.

Where he is now

Failor resigned earlier this year. He is doing some consulting work and is "entering into a new venture outside of politics" but declined to give details or give further comment.

"There was not an ally. There was not somebody on your side, from female senators down to the Nth degree. There was not anybody who was going to be on your side." said Pam Dugdale, a Senate staffer

Allegations involving Sen. Rick Bertrand 

The accusations

• A male staffer said Bertrand would say inappropriate things about women. 
• Failor Jr. said Bertrand made an inappropriate comment about Failor Jr.'s wife.

Where he is now

Bertrand is seeking re-election this year. He described himself as a "foul-mouthed Irish Catholic" and said he has curbed that talk in response to the heightened sensitivity surrounding workplace conduct. 

"Sometimes it's not what you think you're saying, it's how it's being heard," Bertrand said. "It makes people uncomfortable and I'm more aware of that now. I really think this is a positive thing."

"He one night said it was bath night at his apartment, was it OK if he invited my wife?" Ed Failor Jr. on a comment he said Bertrand made.

Allegations involving Sen. Bill Anderson II

The accusation

• He would say inappropriate things about women when only male staffers or senators were present. Anderson, in his own deposition, said there were sometimes inappropriate jokes among other lawmakers, but he would just walk away.

Where he is now

Anderson resigned his seat in September 2017 to become executive director of the Cherokee Area Economic Development Corp.

He told the Register in August that he doesn't recall conversations involving inappropriate talk among male colleagues. 

"I guess I never experienced anything that would be described as toxic or inappropriate," Anderson said.

"It did catch me off guard. I was unaware that there were any issues, frankly," former Sen. Bill Anderson in response to Anderson's lawsuit.

Allegations involving Sen. Tim Kapucian

The accusation

• He made inappropriate jokes, multiple male staff members said. 

Where he is now

Kapucian remains a senator and farmer. He did not respond to requests for comment.

"Those are types of things that I know nothing. You know, I would rather not know. I would rather have someone else deal with that," Sen. Tim Kapucian in response to a question during a deposition. He was asked whether he would have liked to have been informed when the Anderson allegations first surfaced.

Allegations not tied to a specific legislator or staffer

• A staff member was fired because she was pregnant in the late 1990s. The woman did not return the Register's calls.
• Men in the office discussed the act of aggressive and forceful oral sex.
• Male staffers would go out in a group and assess lobbyists' physical appearance. 
• Male staffers were viewing a video of a topless woman jumping on a trampoline to the tune of "Jingle Bells."
• Staffers made homophobic comments related to false assertions that gay men routinely insert hamsters into their rectums for sexual pleasure.
• Multiple GOP lawmakers or staff members said they couldn't recall training about sexual harassment, some of whom had worked at the Capitol for more than a decade. 
• An unnamed senator was confronted by a female legislative staffer about inappropriate comments and the lawmaker stopped talking to her. 

"The atmosphere was juvenile. The atmosphere was like a football locker room. The atmosphere was inappropriate jokes … The atmosphere was pretty much a free-for-all of non-political correctness.” Pam Dugdale, former Senate staffer