We were shocked to hear that the U.S. Congress was using our hard-earned tax dollars to make hush-hush payments to settle sexual harassment suits.

Well, guess what? The same thing has been going on in Harrisburg. Thanks to a joint investigation by newspapers in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, the truth has finally come out. The state Democratic caucus has paid out $165,000 to a legislative assistant in the office of state Rep. Thomas Caltagirone, D-Berks, and $82,500 to her lawyer to settle sexual harassment allegations.

House Minority Leader Frank Dermody, D-Allegheny, confirmed that in the past 10 years, his caucus has paid out $514,000 to settle two sexual harassment allegations and five others involving other types of employment wrongdoing. Details on these have not yet come to light, but the news media are on the trail of more information, so stay tuned.

Upon learning of the payments, Gov. Tom Wolf called for changes in the state’s self-insurance program which allow such settlements to be made. Through his representative, Wolf said victims of sexual abuse deserve protection; their abusers do not.

We recommend several steps: First, Caltagirone and any other state official whose actions resulted in payouts from the state should reimburse us taxpayers immediately; second, we agree with Wolf that changes need to be made in the self-insured program to prevent abuses such as these from happening again; third, allegations against those accused should be examined thoroughly to determine whether the offending legislators should resign.

Even some of Caltagirone’s legislative colleagues were unaware that such a provision in the self-insured program exists. State Auditor General Eugene DePasquale, a former Democratic state legislator from York County, said as much in his criticism of the revelations. “We need to put a stop to this,” the state’s fiscal watchdog demanded.

DePasquale commended several local legislators who responded to his call earlier this year offering his office’s audit services to review legislative accounts. Although state Rep. Bob Freeman, D-Northampton, and a bipartisan group of legislators co-sponsored legislation (House Bill 1257), it has been stuck in the Finance Committee since April, DePasquale said. “If the General Assembly would have allowed me to conduct an audit, we may have already uncovered this abuse of taxpayer funds,” he said.

In addition to Freeman, DePasquale cited the help of Reps. Mike Schlossberg, D-Lehigh; Joel Samuelson, D-Lehigh and Northampton, and Justin Simmons, R-Lehigh and Berks. This type of secret payment first came to light this fall when it was learned that about $27,000 was paid from U.S. Rep. John Conyers’ congressional budget account in 2014 to a staff member, Marion Brown.

Although he denied the allegations and tried to hang tough, Conyers, 88, a Michigan Democrat and longest-serving African-American representative, threw in the towel after intense pressure from fellow Democrats and “retired effective immediately,” earlier this month. Conyers is the first member of Congress to leave since October when Pennsylvania Rep. Tim Murphy, an anti-abortion Republican, resigned following allegations that he encouraged his girlfriend, with whom he was having an affair, to end a pregnancy. U.S. Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., also charged with sexual harassment, said he will resign at the end of the year.

Back here in Pennsylvania, earlier this month, it was reported that nearly a dozen former employees of State Sen. Daylin Leach, D-Montgomery and a candidate for the U.S. House’s 7th district, either touched women without their consent or made inappropriate sexual remarks in their presence.

Leach blasted a primary opponent for spreading the “rumors” and said he was unaware that any staff members were having an issue with his sense of humor or that touching them made them feel uncomfortable. Earlier this month, Leach said he was “taking a step back” from his congressional campaign because of the allegations. He did say, however, that he will not resign from his state Senate seat.

In his statement, Leach also said, “Politics is, sadly, an ugly business. And given the current atmosphere, these sorts of deep-sea fishing expeditions into everyone’s past are likely to become standard. That’s a shame. I worry that we risk weaponizing and trivializing a long overdue and critically important movement.”

Don’t think Pennsylvania is alone. Since early in the fall, legislators in at least 28 other states have been accused of sexual harassment or improper behavior. Nine (five Democrats and four Republicans) in five states — Alaska, California, Florida, Minnesota and Ohio — have resigned, and legislative leaders are expecting more allegations and resignations in 2018.

What exactly constitutes “sexual misconduct”? The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission considers sexual harassment to include “unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors and other verbal or physical harassment of a sexual nature.”

When legislators or any other public officials find themselves in legal trouble with accusers, they need to use their dime to defend themselves, not ours.

By Bruce Frassinelli | tneditor@tnonline.com