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Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey did not violate his office’s anti-harassment policy when he began a romantic relationship with a subordinate and continued to supervise them for months without disclosing the relationship. But that is more of an indictment of current office policy rather than a vindication of Frey’s actions.
So it is encouraging to hear that Frey’s office is taking steps to improve that policy.
Following the release of an independent workplace assessment of the attorney general’s office, we asked the office whether Frey would support updating the harassment policy to mirror policy for some other state workers, which does require a supervisor to disclose a relationship with a subordinate so that changes can be considered about who reports to whom. We’ve been saying since early April, when news of Frey’s relationship broke, that this requirement should apply to the AG’s office too. The potential for an unequal power dynamic should be obvious, and so is the need to address it in office policy.
“On April 8, the Attorney General directed the Chief Deputy and [Equal Employment Opportunity] Coordinator to begin a review and develop suggested revisions of the relevant policies. We then waited for the assessment report to ensure our revised policy would address any concerns the report might have raised,” Danna Hayes, special assistant to the attorney general, said in a June 8 email to the BDN editorial board. “The revised version of this policy will require not only a disclosure, but a mandatory supervisory reassignment in the case of a relationship between a supervisor and someone they supervise.”
This is an appropriate, if overdue step. Hayes also indicated that a 2020 policy manual review and reissuance left the sexual harassment policy unchanged. That was a missed opportunity — and failed responsibility, really — to make sure policy kept up with best practices.
Intentionally or not, Frey made a compelling argument for this policy change when interviewed for the independent review. He was asked what his error in judgment was.
“There is no policy or professional rule or statute. The error in judgment was that while the relationship may have been permitted, it doesn’t mean that people should not have the transparency, and disclosure is important. While the relationship is fine, most policies do allow for the disclosure,” Frey said in his interview as part of the report. “I’m not just anybody. This was going to get some attention. Even though disclosure is not required, it was owed. I did owe that transparency. The relationship had nothing to do with supervisor/supervisee relationship. I’m not caught up on whether or not it was required. There’s nothing to hide but common sense dictates that disclosure should be provided immediately.”
Policy, and not just common sense, must dictate this disclosure along with a conversation about reporting structure. This is especially true for state constitutional officers, like the attorney general, who are elected by the Legislature and have minimal accountability. We’re glad that this overdue policy change is in the works.