Sunday, January 31, 2016
Donald Trump Field Organizer Accuses Campaign of Sex Discrimination
DAVENPORT, Iowa — A former paid organizer for Donald J. Trump who was fired this month has accused his presidential campaign of sex discrimination.
Elizabeth Mae Davidson, 26, who was the Trump campaign’s field organizer here in Davenport, Iowa’s third-largest city, said in a discrimination complaint that men doing the same jobs were paid more and were allowed to plan and speak at rallies, while her requests to do so were ignored. She also said that when she and a young female volunteer met Mr. Trump at a rally last summer, he told them, “You guys could do a lot of damage,” referring to their looks.
The complaint was filed on Thursday with the Davenport Civil Rights Commission.
In a telephone interview on Sunday, Mr. Trump denied making the remark but did not address the other two allegations.
“That is not the worst thing that could be said,” Mr. Trump said. “But I never said it. It’s not in my vocabulary.”
He added that he did not know Ms. Davidson but that in checking with his staff, he was told she was a disgruntled employee. “My people tell me she did a terrible job.”
He criticized The New York Times for reporting the complaint the day before the caucuses, adding, “A story like this could damage my chances.”
Ms. Davidson, of nearby Bettendorf, had recruited volunteer organizers for most of her region’s 63 precincts and had opened a Trump campaign field office, only the second in the state. She was fired on Jan. 14, the day after a New York Times article portrayed problems with the campaign’s senior Iowa leadership, to whom she reported.
In her complaint, Ms. Davidson wrote that she was told she was fired for making “disparaging comments about senior campaign leaders to third parties” and breaking a nondisclosure clause in her employment contract. She denied saying anything disparaging about campaign leaders to the news media.
Ms. Davidson was described in The Times article as one of the campaign’s most effective organizers and was quoted as she tried to enlist supporters to volunteer as precinct leaders during a Trump rally in Ottumwa on Jan. 9.
Elsewhere in the article, the campaign was described as “amateurish and halting, committing basic organizing errors.”
Ms. Davidson’s complaint states that men with the same job title — district representatives — were quoted in news accounts without being fired by the Trump campaign.
Her complaint continues that she was the only woman with that title and that men with the same title were also paid more.
In an interview, Ms. Davidson said she was paid $2,000 a month and was classified as a part-time worker because she also had a job as a paralegal. But she said another field representative, Marc Elcock, was paid more though he, too, has a day job, as a lawyer.
According to the Trump campaign’s public filings, several men who held the title of district representative, including Mr. Elcock, were paid $3,500 to $4,000 a month.
Mr. Trump’s remark to Ms. Davidson and a female volunteer that they could “do a lot of damage” occurred when they were introduced to Mr. Trump last summer, according to the complaint, which included no other details about the exchange.
Ms. Davidson’s complaint concludes, “As a result of this discrimination I have suffered lost wages, mental anguish and damage to my career.”
Betsey Tibbetts, a former volunteer who replaced Ms. Davidson in Davenport, said she knew nothing about why Ms. Davidson was fired. “I’m not allowed to talk to you guys,” she said.
Ms. Davidson’s lawyer, Dorothy A. O’Brien, said the complaint would trigger an investigation by the Davenport civil rights agency. After 60 days, Ms. Davidson would have the option of continuing to let the agency investigate or filing suit in state court.
Ms. Davidson, the daughter of the Republican chairwoman of Scott County, Judy Davidson, said in an interview last summer that she was urged to get involved by Trump aides who said his campaign needed young people, and that she had first met the candidate when he visited Davenport in early 2015, before he announced his candidacy. When she asked Mr. Trump whom he might choose as a running mate, she recalled that he responded, “How about you?”
Asked after her complaint was filed if she would attend Monday’s caucuses, Ms. Davidson said she was not sure. “Some of the bad things about him I dismissed, because I was working for the candidate,” she said. “Now, I’m more critical, especially how he treats women.”
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