California lawmaker sued by former chief of staff over alleged sexual harassment

California lawmaker sued by former chief of staff over alleged sexual harassment

The former chief of staff to a California state senator who recently left the Democratic Party to become a Republican filed a lawsuit against her on Thursday, alleging that she sexually harassed him, created a hostile work environment and fired him in retaliation for rejecting her sexual advances.

The lawsuit, filed in Sacramento County Superior Court, alleges that Sen. Marie Alvarado-Gil (R-Jackson) engaged in “erratic, controlling, sexually domineering abuse of authority and power” against her chief of staff, Chad Condit, for much of 2023.

“This was a sex-based, reciprocal relationship of unwanted advances and sexual behavior, combined with punishment and displays of power,” said the lawsuit, which also names the California State Senate as a defendant.

Alvarado-Gil’s lawyer denied the allegations.

“A disgruntled former employee fabricated a strange story, presented without evidence, in order to obtain a paycheck. We expect the senator to be fully exonerated of any wrongdoing in these false, financially motivated claims,” attorney Ognian Gavrilov said in a statement provided to The Times by the Senate Republican caucus.

Alvarado-Gil was elected in 2022 as a Democrat in a heavily red district that spans a rural area northeast of the Central Valley. Her election was largely seen as a fluke of California’s top-two primary system, after the crowded field of Republicans split the GOP vote in June and cleared the way for two Democrats to advance to the general election despite receiving just 41% of the vote together. Alvarado-Gil won that November.

In August, she switched political parties and joined the Republican caucus in the Senate after criticizing Democratic leadership.

Condit served as Alvarado-Gil’s campaign manager in 2022 and then became chief of staff in her state office.

The lawsuit alleges that early in her tenure, Alvarado-Gil began “grooming Plaintiff and sharing personal and intimate details” of her life, including her dating life, divorces and marital infidelities. Alvarado-Gil spoke openly about “her vices,” the complaint says, “including sex and use of the drug, ayahuasca, and taking gummies.”

According to the complaint, Alvarado-Gil consistently made inappropriate and sexually suggestive comments to Condit and used her position to exert dominance and power over him. For example, in March 2023, Alvarado-Gil allegedly asked Condit for his opinion on “throuples” and whether he and his wife would be open to them.

She also allegedly made comments suggesting he would be “open to a sexual relationship with her” because his father, former U.S. Rep. Gary Condit, was famously accused of having an affair with Washington intern Chandra Levy. Levy disappeared in 2001, and the elder Condit was initially investigated for her disappearance in a scandal that rocked the country in the months before the 9/11 attacks. He was never formally considered a suspect, and another man was convicted of her murder in a case that was later dismissed. Her death remains unsolved.

According to the complaint, the sexually explicit comments eventually turned physical.

At one point during a work trip to Inyo County, Chad Condit alleged, Alvarado-Gil demanded that he demonstrate his loyalty to her “by letting him go down on her.” Condit and Alvarado-Gil were driving, according to the complaint, and stopped to use the restroom. After Condit returned to the car, “she pulled down her pants and said, ‘I want you to kiss him and prove your loyalty.'”

“After months of creating a dominant-submissive relationship, Plaintiff was numb and acted without thinking and it proceeded with Alvarado-Gil demonstrating her ability to dominate him,” the lawsuit states.

Condit performed the sex act multiple times, the complaint states.

“During the last occasion on which plaintiff performed oral sex as requested by Alvarado-Gil, plaintiff sustained a back injury while sitting in a car seat and twisting and contorting his body in the confined space of the car,” the lawsuit states. “Plaintiff later went to the doctor and discovered that the injury was more severe and that plaintiff had suffered three herniated discs in his back and a collapsed hip.”

Condit later underwent hip surgery for his injuries.

Condit did not respond to a text message and phone call from The Times, and his attorneys could not be reached for comment. The lawsuit alleges that Condit’s “personal and professional relationships have been forever changed and his employment history and opportunities in public service have been irreparably damaged and will never be the same.”

Condit’s complaint goes beyond sexual favors. He also alleges that Alvarado-Gil used him to run errands, drive her daughter around and take care of her dog.

By late summer 2023, Condit began to distance himself from Alvarado-Gil’s alleged advances, the lawsuit said, adding that the senator and her deputy chief of staff, a childhood friend of hers, went to the Secretary of the Senate “to have Plaintiff removed as punishment and retaliation.” He was later given a “false disciplinary letter containing allegations of inappropriate conduct” that Alvarado-Gil had allegedly made against him.

The lawsuit also alleges that Alvarado-Gil took steps to get closer to Condit’s wife and “put himself in a position of control” over the couple’s lives, including hiring Condit’s wife for her March 2023 campaign and visiting the same beautician. Later that summer, after Condit allegedly began rebuffing Alvarado-Gil’s advances, the senator went to his home “and falsely told his wife that Plaintiff was seeing someone to bring him distress.”

In December, the lawsuit alleged that Alvardo-Gil texted Condit saying he had been fired, and that she tried to get him to resign instead by offering to hire his wife.

The lawsuit also alleges that Senate Secretary Erika Contreras “blindly accepted Alvarado-Gil’s retaliatory actions against Plaintiff and condoned her abuse of him.”

Contreras acknowledged the lawsuit in a statement but said the Senate has not yet been notified.

“We are in discussions with an attorney to assess next steps,” Contreras wrote. “The Senate takes all complaints incredibly seriously, but cannot comment on matters relating to ongoing litigation.”