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Lilian Adams and Zoey Jordan Salsbury worked on opposite sides of the Democratic presidential primary. But they had similar problems.
Zoey Salsbury (Sanders campaign)
Lilian Adams (right, Clinton campaign)
Lilian Adams and Zoey Jordan Salsbury were teenagers when they started working on opposite sides of the 2016 Democratic presidential primary. Adams, then 19, joined Hillary Clinton’s campaign and Salsbury, then 18, joined Sen. Bernie Sanders’ campaign. They were ready to make the world a better place by helping to elect their candidate.
But each woman says she was sexually harassed by a fellow campaign worker — and that both campaigns were ill-equipped to address the allegations. Their stories show how political campaigns can prey on the same young people who power them with their work and energy.
Even as Adams and Salsbury came forward to tell their stories, each requested that her alleged harasser not be named, citing safety and professional concerns.
In Clinton’s Campaign
Adams signed on to the Clinton campaign as an intern at its Brooklyn, New York, headquarters in October 2015. She wore many hats: “I was on the digital organizer team and an assistant to the digital director, the deputy digital director, the chief digital officer and the [chief technical officer],” she said.
Seven months later, in May 2016, she relocated to Colorado to work with the state Democratic Party and the Clinton campaign as a paid organizer. Her job connected the two, promoting the former secretary of state and other Democrats on the state’s ballot. It was in the Colorado office that Adams said she faced harassment from a fellow organizer.
Adams said she dealt with this harassment for months and mentioned it to a superior as early as June. The abuse began as homophobic remarks — Adams felt targeted, she said, because the man knew she was bisexual — and escalated from there. “He made multiple comments about my body, told people we were dating, would constantly try to get me to drink (I was 19), try to force me into situations where we were alone, encouraged me not to wear bras, etc.,” Adams said.
HuffPost reached out for comment from the individual accused of harassment but received no reply. A person Adams confided in at the time, speaking on background, confirmed her account.
By August, Adams said she’d lost hope that the harassment would end or that her harasser would finally back away because she wasn’t interested in him. She again reached out to her superiors and asked them to take action. The campaign fired her harasser shortly thereafter. In text messages between Adams and one of her superiors, which were reviewed by HuffPost, they both expressed relief that the problem was over.
https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5a0dfdf2e4b045cf43705417?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009
Zoey Salsbury (Sanders campaign)
Lilian Adams (right, Clinton campaign)
Lilian Adams and Zoey Jordan Salsbury were teenagers when they started working on opposite sides of the 2016 Democratic presidential primary. Adams, then 19, joined Hillary Clinton’s campaign and Salsbury, then 18, joined Sen. Bernie Sanders’ campaign. They were ready to make the world a better place by helping to elect their candidate.
But each woman says she was sexually harassed by a fellow campaign worker — and that both campaigns were ill-equipped to address the allegations. Their stories show how political campaigns can prey on the same young people who power them with their work and energy.
Even as Adams and Salsbury came forward to tell their stories, each requested that her alleged harasser not be named, citing safety and professional concerns.
In Clinton’s Campaign
Adams signed on to the Clinton campaign as an intern at its Brooklyn, New York, headquarters in October 2015. She wore many hats: “I was on the digital organizer team and an assistant to the digital director, the deputy digital director, the chief digital officer and the [chief technical officer],” she said.
Seven months later, in May 2016, she relocated to Colorado to work with the state Democratic Party and the Clinton campaign as a paid organizer. Her job connected the two, promoting the former secretary of state and other Democrats on the state’s ballot. It was in the Colorado office that Adams said she faced harassment from a fellow organizer.
Adams said she dealt with this harassment for months and mentioned it to a superior as early as June. The abuse began as homophobic remarks — Adams felt targeted, she said, because the man knew she was bisexual — and escalated from there. “He made multiple comments about my body, told people we were dating, would constantly try to get me to drink (I was 19), try to force me into situations where we were alone, encouraged me not to wear bras, etc.,” Adams said.
HuffPost reached out for comment from the individual accused of harassment but received no reply. A person Adams confided in at the time, speaking on background, confirmed her account.
By August, Adams said she’d lost hope that the harassment would end or that her harasser would finally back away because she wasn’t interested in him. She again reached out to her superiors and asked them to take action. The campaign fired her harasser shortly thereafter. In text messages between Adams and one of her superiors, which were reviewed by HuffPost, they both expressed relief that the problem was over.
https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5a0dfdf2e4b045cf43705417?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009