Editorial: Zabel harassment shows common ground and political division

Most problems people encounter are not specific to one party or the other.

Your house can burn down regardless of how you vote. You can lose your job or get bad news from the doctor without any relationship to politics.

And you can be a victim of sexual harassment despite party affiliation. By the same token, perpetrating or being accused of sexual harassment has little to do with it, either. Sex scandals and allegations have peppered Democrats and Republicans alike.

But how the accusations are addressed can be very political.

And that’s not a bad thing. It can tell people exactly how one group or the other values the act, the actor or the victim. That is important for residents to understand about their government and for voters to understand about their candidates and their party.

On Wednesday, state Rep. Mike Zabel, D-Delaware County, submitted his resignation letter to Speaker Joanna McClinton. The move comes after a union lobbyist discussed sexual harassment allegations at a hearing in January without naming names. She acknowledged Zabel as the lawmaker in question last week.

Zabel told the Associated Press he was going to allow the situation to play out through the Ethics Committee but that the last week has shown “the toll is just too great on my family and was too detrimental to my well-being.”

It is perhaps coincidental that his resignation comes the same day Rep. Abby Major, R-Leechburg, made similar statements about Zabel “being a creep” and alleging a pattern of behavior.

But it also points to how politics gets in the way of people doing what both sides believe is right.

Last week, when Zabel’s name was first being attached to the reports, the House passed rules, expanding accountability for harassment beyond just other representative or employees. Those passed along party lines, Democrats in favor and Republicans opposed, saying the rules weren’t enough.

On Monday, 16 female GOP representatives sent a letter to McClinton and House Majority Leader Matt Bradford, D-Montgomery County, calling for Zabel’s resignation. While Democrats including Rep. La’Tasha D. Mayes of Allegheny County have likewise called for him to step down, the letter was Republicans only.

Clearly women — and men, for that matter — of both parties were on the same page about Zabel stepping down but not enough to write a bipartisan letter to that effect. Clearly people of both parties agreed that harassment was serious — but not enough to vote on the same rules.

This is mixed messaging that seems to let both sides say they are the ones with the moral high ground. An issue as serious as sexual harassment deserves more consensus and less gamesmanship.