JACKSON, MI, October 21, 2016 – State Representative candidate Bonnie Johnson is standing up to a powerful Democratic lawmaker who was accused of sexual harassing and then firing a state employee who refused his sexual advances at the state capital.
Johnson demanded the immediate resignation of state Representative Brian Banks, one of the state’s most powerful Democratic lawmakers and the Chairman of the Detroit Caucus. In addition, Johnson demanded that the Michigan Democratic Party withdraw all support from Banks’ reelection campaign, and pledged to stand up to any politician, Republican or Democrat, caught sexually harassing their employees.
Banks “never should have had any support,” Johnson wrote when she signed a pledge promising to stand up against sexual harassment.
Banks last year settled a lawsuit filed by a former House staffer who accused the lawmaker of sexual harassment and of firing him when he refused Banks’s sexual advances. An 8-time convicted felon, Banks currently faces 3 additional felony charges and one misdemeanor charge for alleged bank fraud. If convicted, Banks – being tried as a “habitual offender” – faces up to life in prison.
“Brian Banks is everything that’s wrong with politics – and Bonnie Johnson is absolutely right to stand up to her own party and against an 8-time felon with a sordid and disgusting history of allegedly sexually harassing his employees and punishing those who refuse his advances,” said Tony Daunt, Spokesman for the Michigan Freedom Network.
Candidates across Michigan in September were presented with the opportunity to sign a pledge standing up against sexual harassment and distancing themselves from Banks.
Michigan Democrats, including Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Brandon Dillon and numerous Democratic members of the state House and Senate, have also refused to hold Banks accountable for his criminal behavior, instead spending thousands of dollars backing the felon’s reelection this November.
The current charges against the Detroit lawmaker stem from an alleged scheme to swindle $7,500 from a local bank using counterfeit paystubs for a job Banks did not work and that didn’t exist. Banks is
currently charged with two felony counts of uttering and publishing, one felony count of using a false pretense to defraud or cheat, and one misdemeanor count of making false statements of financial condition.
“Hard working Michiganders are disgusted with Democrats’ willingness to put partisan games over human decency,” said Daunt. “Brian Banks has lied, cheated, stolen, and defrauded Michiganders for years. It’s long past time members of his own party stand up against his record of fraud and sexual harassment.”
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