Why Democratic primary voters should pay attention to Senator Windy Boy’s 2017 sexual harassment incident and his subsequent response

In January of 2018, a workplace sexual harassment complaint was made against Senator Jonathan Windy Boy (D-Box Elder).  The complaint centered around a series of texts messages that Senator Windy Boy had sent to an unidentified female legislator.  The complaint was subsequently investigated by Great Falls attorney Jean Faure, and a report was issued in March of 2018.  The report concluded that Sen. Windy Boy was “in a position of influence and power,” and that “[t]he offensive conduct is subtle but evident . . . a pattern of these behaviors appears established.” The investigator stated that the situation was likely to repeat itself and recommended legislative leadership take action, including a written warning and training “at a minimum.”

At the time, Sen. Windy Boy was chairman of the State-Tribal Relations Committee.  In April of 2018, it was announced that Sen. Windy Boy was resigning his position due to “work-related commitments.” In emails explaining his resignation, Sen. Windy Boy made no mention of the sexual harassment complaint or the results of the investigation.   Instead, Senator Windy Boy stated he was resigning because “a lot of things” had come up in his life.  Sen. Windy Boy referred to his work as the Chippewa Cree Tribes’ Tribal Historical Preservation Officer and claimed that his work commitments would interfere with his ability to serve as chairman.

However, subsequent reporting from the Associated Press revealed that then-House Speaker Austin Knudsen had discussed the report with legislative leaders from both parties and intended to impose some form of discipline on Sen. Windy Boy in light of the investigative findings.  Democratic leaders requested to speak to Sen. Windy Boy about the matter before any disciplinary action was taken by Speaker Knudsen.  It was shortly thereafter that Sen. Windy Boy resigned.

The existence of the March 2018 report was not publicly known until March of 2019, when the Associated Press learned that a revamped anti-harassment policy for the Montana Legislature had been advanced because of a previously undisclosed harassment allegation against a Legislator.  This information led the Associated Press to request a copy of the report.  Former Speaker Knudsen subsequently identified Senator Windy Boy as the subject of the sexual harassment complaint.  Until this time, which was roughly one year after the incident, it appeared that no one outside of House leadership was aware of the sexual harassment complaint and investigation of Senator Windy Boy.   

The report that was obtained by the Associated Press was redacted to protect the identities of the victim.  Miller for Congress was unable to find a copy of the redacted report, but the Associated Press stated that the report contained the following main points:

·      The text messages sent by Sen. Windy Boy to the female legislator called her “gorgeous,” and “a wonderful sight for My Sore Eyes”. In one exchange, the female legislator was concerned about overstepping boundaries in resolving an issue. Senator Windy Boy allegedly responded: “Well. Just know, between you and me. You can step all over me and there is no boundaries.”

·      The victim made the complaint against Sen. Windy Boy in January 2018 after reading a news article about sexual harassment in the Legislature. Either the victim or another person sent Senator Windy Boy a message on Jan. 9, 2018, that the past text messages were inappropriate and should “cease and desist.”

·      Senator Windy Boy responded with an apology and said that if the “behavior came across as inappropriate, it would never happen again.”

·      Senator Windy Boy had also sent text messages to a legislative staffer in January and February of 2017 which allegedly stated: “You looked beautiful yesterday” and another that said: “BTW you look gorgeous today.” The staffer apparently mentioned the text messages to someone and was told to “steer clear” of Senator Windy Boy.

·      Any further text messages from Senator Windy Boy to the staffer after that point “were strictly professional.”

After the report became publicly known, House Democratic leaders said in a statement that they were “shocked and disappointed to learn that a member of our caucus, an elected official in a position of power, harassed another individual . . . This behavior is completely unacceptable.”

When the reports became public, Senator Windy Boy was asked to respond.  After an initial period of silence, Senator Windy Boy issued a press release through PR Newswire on March 5, 2019, entitled “Montana State Legislator Jonathan Windy Boy Target of Smear Campaign.”  The piece from PR Newswire contained the following statements from Senator Windy Boy:

·      “I decided to resign from the interim committee, because I felt it was for the higher good of the committee, the good work the committee does, and the work I do in my main job conflicts with the dates of the committee and my day job compelled me to this decision. Not because of guilt. The only thing I’m guilty of is being a single man asking a single lady out for dinner and she accepted. What no one has said in the claim, in the report or in the media is that she accepted my offer to go out. The next thing I knew, the situation elevated into this.”

·      “There are signed agreements from both parties involved. I respect those individuals’ right to privacy since my constitutional rights to privacy have been trampled. I have the right to defend myself. There have been no charges, no adjudication and no disposition. No laws were broke. This is all politics.”

Senator Windy Boy subsequently made the following statements to the Havre Weekly Chronicle on March 7, 2019:

·      “My constitutional rights and due process have been grossly violated . . . There are up to nine federal laws that may have been violated during this ordeal. One in particular, the contents in (18 United States Code) 2515, which states that the contents of the privileged private communications, and any evidence derived from therefrom cannot be accepted as evidence (against me).”

·      “However, it’s my hope that this vilification will not happen again, against anybody on either side of the aisle . . . My legal team will advise me further on this matter.”

After reviewing the publicly available information, Miller for Congress believes that primary voters should be made aware of this matter before votes are cast in the 2026 Montana Democratic Primary.  The timing of Senator Windy Boy’s resignation from his committee chairmanship in April of 2018, the statements and reactions of House leadership from both parties, as well as the revamping of sexual harassment policies in the aftermath of this incident, could lead voters to conclude that Senator Windy Boy did engage in some form of sexual harassment.  In his 2019 response to the release of the investigative report, however, Senator Windy Boy claimed that he was the victim of a smear campaign and that the allegations were political, thus implying the allegations of sexual harassment were false. 

Based on the totality of the facts, voters could conclude that Senator Windy Boy engaged in sexual harassment in 2017 and then tried to sweep it under the rug when it became public knowledge over one year later.   This could be a red flag in the minds of many voters and could have negative consequences for other down ballot Democratic candidates if Senator Windy Boy is at the top of the ticket for the Democratic Party in the general election.    

For these reasons, Miller for Congress believes that this matter should be raised and considered before votes are cast in the 2026 Montana Democratic primary election.