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Who should investigate rape allegation against state Sen. Joe Fain?

Alleged victim says she won’t seek probe; state officials struggle

By Joseph O’Sullivan, The Seattle Times
Published: October 3, 2018, 9:43pm

OLYMPIA — After a Seattle woman last week accused state Sen. Joe Fain of rape, he denied the allegation and invited an investigation. Senators in both parties, as well as Gov. Jay Inslee, said they welcomed an inquiry of some kind.

Now, officials are struggling over how to investigate a matter that some are calling an unprecedented situation.

In the wake of last week’s Supreme Court hearing, Candace Faber tweeted that Fain raped her in 2007 in a Washington, D.C., hotel room on the night she received a master’s degree.

Faber has said there are witnesses who would corroborate her whereabouts that night, and that she has evidence that she was in Fain’s hotel room that night.

But Faber also said she does not plan to sue Fain or seek a criminal or civil investigation, though she would participate in one.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Columbia this week declined to comment. On Wednesday, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia said the department would only investigate the allegation if it were reported.

The development leaves state officials struggling over how to respond, according to Secretary of the Senate Brad Hendrickson.

“Were such an incident to take place during a member’s tenure in the Legislature, Senate Administration would immediately call upon law enforcement to investigate,” Hendrickson wrote in an email. “The criminal nature of these allegations, the fact the incident took place outside of Washington State before Senator Fain began serving in the Legislature, and the survivor has publicly stated she will not be independently pursuing charges, make for an unprecedented situation.”

“This is a very serious matter and is being treated as such,” he added. “We are carefully weighing all options.”

Those circumstances contrast to the outside investigation commissioned by House officials earlier this year against Rep. David Sawyer, a Democrat from Tacoma. That review, sparked after a legislative staffer made a complaint that Sawyer’s behavior was contributing to a hostile workplace, went on to find that the representative violated House policies on harassment and workplace environment. He went on to lose his primary race in August.

Fain, 37, is a politically moderate Republican from Auburn who is up for election this November. After Faber’s tweets, Fain denied her account in a text message.

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