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Democrat Sen. Greg Taylor directly responded to reporter questions in an impromptu availability following a leadership panel at a downtown legislative conference on Wednesday, strongly denying sexual harassment allegations.
It was the first time since the IndyStar published allegations of sexual harassment against the minority leader. In all, six women have accused the politician of sexual harassment.
Previously, Taylor read from a prepared statement and declined to respond to questions in a public appearance.
“My focus is going to be working with the legislature to try to get public policy passed,” Taylor said Wednesday. “I’m not going to address those issues … from over 15 years ago that are false — and that’s the way I’m going to proceed.”
Taylor then spoke with reporters for another 11 minutes, repeatedly and vehemently denying any misconduct and pointing to the support of his caucus in his reelection to Senate Minority Leader.
The reelection of Taylor as the leader of the ten-member caucus wasn’t unanimous, with four members publicly explaining their ‘no’ votes. Taylor’s supporters, which include at least one other member accused of harassment, haven’t shared their reasoning.
When asked by a reporter, Taylor said he would “absolutely” step down if the accusations were found to be credible.
“I think it would [be] a responsibility of anybody who committed [this] heinous of action to take the initiative to do something about it,” Taylor said.
Taylor declined to say whether any of his colleagues had asked him to step down.
“I’m not going to discuss my internal caucus situation,” Taylor said. “That’s actually what put us in this position right now and I’m not going to do it.”
An ‘advocate’ for women
The longtime senator and attorney explicitly denied pushing a woman, following another woman into a bathroom or assaulting an intern.
Despite the cloud of allegations, Taylor said he believed he could still be an effective minority leader, pointing to legislation passed from his caucus and the hiring of three women as staff, including the chief of staff, the finance director and the communications director. He additionally called himself an “advocate” for women.
“I’ve also emphasized the importance of workplace safety, not only through my actions but through my votes on the floor,” Taylor said. “So, yes. I do think I can be an effective leader and I’ve established the kind of relationships that allow me to be effective.”
When asked about leading colleagues who might feel “cynical” about his leadership, he said, “I don’t know what that means.”
Taylor retained a public relations firm to handle press communications, including an initial response shared with the IndyStar in which he didn’t explicitly deny the charges.
The full statement said: “As an elected official, I am responsible for maintaining high professionalism and respecting the boundaries of all I engage with. While this has always been my goal, there have been times when I may have blurred the lines and behaved in a manner that potentially made my colleagues or those who witnessed my actions uncomfortable. While it was never my intent to cause harm, I acknowledge that I have fallen short, and for this, I apologize.”
When asked about those comments, he said the public relations firm issued the statement but that he wasn’t trying to backtrack on it.
“I didn’t do the things that people were saying that I did and I can’t chase a ghost,” Taylor said. “I don’t know who these people are. I don’t know what they’re talking about. I can’t chase a ghost. I can’t. And if this is the precedent we want to set then there’s a lot — yeah, that’s just a bad precedent.”
It would be “very presumptuous” to say he’d never made a mistake in his 16 years at the Statehouse, he said.
“You could say a word, you could touch somebody with no intention at all. And if you do those things, you should apologize,” said the Democrat leader.
“If I did, I apologize. … I love being a senator. I love the work that I do. I love my constituents. I love helping people who need help.”
“That’s all that my entire career has been based on,” he continued. “I just, I can’t understand what this is about. I don’t know.”
He also said he wasn’t calling any of the accusers liars.
“I come from a background where there’s certain things you don’t say. You don’t call a person a liar,” Taylor said.
“I’m not going to do something negative against these women. They deserve to be heard, but I did not do these things,” he said.
The Indiana Capital Chronicle is an independent, not-for-profit news organization that covers state government, policy and elections.
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