California State Sen. Joel Anderson, R-El Cajon, was accused two weeks ago by Stephanie Roberson, a female lobbyist for the California Nurses Association, a labor union, of threatening to “bitch slap” her and harassing her at a Capitol-area bar last week, several news outlets reported this week. The Senate Rules Committee is investigating the incident.
However, nearly every media outlet in California has published only the account of Roberson, despite my interview with Anderson and subsequent article, and evidence of Roberson’s history and legal record of inciting violence.
Even leftist Facebook trolls are posting demands for Anderson to resign on his official Senate Facebook page.
This is a concerted, statewide media attack on Republican State Sen. Joel Anderson because he has been one of the most effective advocates for the principles of the Republic that California has seen in recent years. He is ending his service as a Senator. Their greatest fear is what he could do to them in the future, as a public figure or as an office holder at any level.
Republican opponents are bullies and play dirty.
I spoke with Sen. Anderson who tells the story quite differently. Anderson noted that the Los Angeles Times, which published a vile article about this incident, did not speak with him.
Anderson’s timeline and account of the incident does not conform with the news accounts, nor with the “anonymous sources” in the Los Angeles Times reporting. I reported:
Anderson said he and former Sen. Rod Wright were at a fundraiser at the Diplomat restaurant across from the Capitol, and Roberson said hello to him first. He said they had some small talk. “I said to her, ‘I spent all this time working across the street, and thought you’d lobby me one time in 12 years.’
“I told her ‘I’m disappointed we never worked together.’” Anderson said he does not do health care bills.
Anderson said he may have insulted Roberson with that comment. A few minutes later however, Anderson said he told her that his wife and daughter are both nurses, and he’s very supportive of nurses and nursing.
Anderson said the bar was busy and loud, and he and Wright were also talking with other people, when Wright suggested they move on to another restaurant.
“Stephanie said ‘Oh no, stay here,’” to Anderson and Wright, he reported.
Shortly after, as they were again making small talk, Anderson said he told her, “Here’s something that’s a real bitch slap – I unionized my own shop,” referring to his direct mail business, and knowing she’s with a labor union.
Anderson said it was loud, and she said, “What did you say to me?” So he said he repeated his statement verbatim, “Here’s something that’s a real bitch slap – I unionized my own shop.”
That’s when Anderson said Stephanie Roberson started screaming, “He’s threatening me! He’s threatening me!”
Anderson said bar employees quickly walked up to him and asked him to leave. As this was happening, Anderson said Roberson looked at him and said, “I’m going to get you.”
The Sacramento Bee also published a story about the incident, and followed it up with another ridiculous article, repeating the lie that he threatened to “bitch slap” Roberson. The second article is about examples of “bad behavior” around the Capitol because of alcohol, prominently featuring Sen. Joel Anderson:
Two altercations at Sacramento fundraisers this month put the spotlight back on the scene: Sen. Joel Anderson, R-Alpine, was kicked out of a restaurant in mid-August for allegedly threatening to “bitch slap” a lobbyist; he says his comments were misunderstood. Days earlier, Assemblyman Richard Bloom, D-Santa Monica, reported to the Legislature that he was shoved by a health care union president, who denies any physical contact.
“The vast majority of people know how to behave themselves. Unfortunately, there are some people who don’t,” said Sen. Ben Allen, a Santa Monica Democrat who was present at the fundraiser where Bloom said he was pushed. “There’s always a couple of people who push the envelope.”
Adama Iwu, a leader of We Said Enough, said alcohol is often a convenient excuse. She pointed out that many people have complained about sexual harassment occurring during sober encounters inside the Capitol.
“These things can happen with or without alcohol,” Iwu said. “It’s about treating people with respect and having enough of a process in place so people know and understand exactly what the boundaries are and that they will be held accountable for aberrations of that behavior.”
Iwu is certainly correct that plenty of Capitol harassment cases took place in sober situations, but she’s wrong to assume that Anderson is guilty.
“But Iwu was encouraged by the response to the Anderson incident. Witnesses said individuals intervened quickly, and it was reported to the Senate within days. “It’s something new that I don’t know if we would have seen this time in 2017,” she said. “What we typically see is people close ranks, they don’t say anything.”
Investigations, Cover Ups, False Accusations
Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins prematurely wrapped up the investigation into Sen. Bob Hertzberg, known as “Huggy Bear” throughout political circles. Hertzberg’s inappropriate “hugs” apparently became a thing of legends. Creepy legends. Several of his victims described his advances as being locked in a crotch-grinding hug.
Yet Hertzberg only received a “formal reprimand” from the Senate Rules Committee and was told to stop his unwanted hugging.
Conversely, Sen. Anderson has been tried and convicted by the media in California, despite the flood of sexual groping, assault and harassment complaints in California’s State Capitol, most of which were glossed over. And it’s important to note that the freshman Assembly members in 2010 were required to attend training conducted by former Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg.
I haven’t found one newspaper in the state which acknowledged what I reported about Anderson’s accuser: “Superior Court records show that in late 2016, Roberson attacked a woman in the Blackbird Bar and was arrested for assault and battery, and for causing significant damage to the bar. According to the court documents, Roberson was ordered to have no contact with the female victim, and never return to the bar in which the incident took place. And, as part of a plea agreement with the court and the Sacramento District Attorney, Stephanie Roberson was ordered to take anger Management classes.”
The real crime being perpetrated on Sen. Joel Anderson and other men can be blamed on all of the virtue-signaling faux feminists in the country, and especially those currently holding political office.
Today’s liberal women are destructive, antagonistic women, devoted to their own misery in undermining traditional institutions crucial for a healthy, dynamic society: marriage, motherhood, and fatherhood. Joel Anderson has stood for family, the unborn, and justice … which makes him an enemy of the left.
Real harassment is a violent criminal act. But what these horrible women do with their false accusations and cover-ups only convolutes real sexual harassment and real sexual abuse cases, and further victimizes real rape victims … and they only do it to either cover their own political butts, or make a good guy pay for his actual virtue.