California Assemblyman Matt Dababneh announced Friday that he’s resigning amid an investigation into a lobbyist’s allegation he sexually assaulted her in a bathroom last year.
Dababneh again denied the allegation in his resignation letter, but said he no longer believes he can effectively serve his Los Angeles district.
He is the second Democratic California lawmaker to step down following allegations of sexual misconduct. He said he’ll cooperate with an ongoing Assembly investigation into the claim.
Lobbyist Pamela Lopez (Pictured Left) makes a public allegation of lewd behavior by Assemblyman Matt Dababneh, D-Encino (Right)
Jessica Yas Barker, right, makes a public allegation of inappropriate behavior by Assemblyman Matt Dababneh, D-Encino, during a news conference Monday, Dec. 4, 2017
‘Beyond the salacious headlines, I am confident that the completed investigation will bring to light and into focus the significant and persuasive evidence of my innocence,’ Dababneh wrote.
Pamela Lopez, the lobbyist, said his resignation means little without an apology.
Dababneh, 36, is a former aide to U.S. Rep Brad Sherman (pictured). He was elected to the Assembly in as 2013 special election
‘He’s not attempting to atone for his behavior,’ Lopez told The Associated Press.
Lopez alleged at a Monday news conference Dababneh pushed her into a single-stall bathroom during a Las Vegas social event in 2016 and masturbated in front of her while asking her to touch him.
She also outlined the alleged incident in a letter to the Assembly committee tasked with handling misconduct complaints.
Another woman joined Lopez at a news conference to allege that Dababneh made sexually suggestive comments to her.
Jessica Yas Barker, who once worked with Dababneh in the district office of US Representative Brad Sherman in the San Fernando Valley, accused the assemblyman of repeatedly commenting on her appearance.
Dababneh allegedly told her not to dress like ‘such a lesbian.’
He also is alleged to have told Barker about his sexual experiences.
Barker alleges that he on one instance brought her into the office and showed her condoms in his desk drawer.
‘Who knows what my career would look like today had I been able to stay in a congressional office with a boss who was respectful and encouraging?’ she said.
Dababneh again denied the allegation in his resignation letter, but said he no longer believes he can effectively serve his Los Angeles district.
Democratic Assemblyman Raul Bocanegra (L), also of Los Angeles, resigned in November over sexual harassment allegations while State Senator Tony Mendoza (R) is being investigated for accusations of inappropriate contact with several young women
That committee will continue its investigation into the allegation despite Dababneh’s pending resignation, effective Jan. 1.
Democratic Assemblyman Raul Bocanegra, also of Los Angeles, resigned in November after multiple women accused him of kissing or groping them without consent.
Nearly 150 women launched a reckoning of sorts in California’s Capitol when they published an Oct. 17 letter alleging ‘pervasive’ sexual harassment in the Legislature amid a national anti-harassment movement that’s brought down once-powerful figures in entertainment, media and politics.
Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (pictured) said the chamber will keep working ‘to make the Legislature an institution where people are safe… and perpetrators are held accountable’
Without Dababneh and Bocanegra, Democrats will no longer have a two-thirds supermajority in the Assembly, which allows them to raise taxes, suspend legislative rules and pass emergency legislation without Republican votes.
The Senate, meanwhile, is investigating Democratic Sen. Tony Mendoza for accusations of inappropriate contact with several young women who worked for him, including one who said she was invited to his home.
He denies knowingly acting inappropriately. If he were to leave office, Democrats would lose their Senate supermajority as well.
Dababneh, 36 and not married, is a former aide to U.S. Rep Brad Sherman. He was elected to the Assembly in as 2013 special election.
Lopez is the only woman to make a formal complaint against Dababneh as a lawmaker, but another alleged inappropriate conduct while he worked for Sherman from 2005-2013, including as the district chief of staff.
Dababneh did not directly address Barker’s claims in his resignation letter.
Instead, he said he is ‘inspired by the many brave women’ who have come forward with stories of harassment, even as he maintained his innocence against Lopez’s claim.
‘As we battle for change, we must remember that due process exists for a reason,’ he wrote. ‘We should never fight injustice with injustice.’
Lopez said she wants the Legislature to keep working to ‘heal and restore’ women who have been victimized.
‘We have a lot to do in order to put something in place that protects victims of sexual assault and sexual harassment,’ she said.
The two women suggested that Dababneh donate his remaining campaign funds to organizations fighting violence against women or other women’s rights groups.
Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon said the chamber will keep working ‘to make the Legislature an institution where people are safe, survivors are helped, and perpetrators are held accountable.’