Recently, news broke that former Michigan State House Speaker Lee Chatfield is under Michigan State Police investigation following allegations of sexual assault. Chatfield was named an advisor of James Craig tasked with setting up his run for governor and in May was even notably “doing nothing to discourage speculation that he might be running for Lieutenant Governor” on Craig’s ticket.

Chatfield is under investigation for allegedly “sexually abus[ing] a girl, starting approximately 11 years ago when she was about 15 and ending only recently.” A day later, the victim came forward revealing herself to be Chatfield’s sister-in-law Rebekah after claiming to have endured multiple unwanted encounters with him over several years and “throughout his political tenure in Lansing, including inside his Capitol office.”

Over a series of interviews with Bridge Michigan, his brother Aaron Chatfield characterized Lee as having “few moral boundaries when it came to women” and recounted instances in which he took the former House Speaker to “strip clubs or evening rendezvous with various women, inside and outside of government, including a former staffer.”

In light of these serious allegations, MDP Chair Lavora Barnes made the following statement:

“No one should ever have to endure what Rebekah Chatfield has described at the hands of former House Speaker Lee Chatfield. We applaud her bravery for coming forward. James Craig should immediately and publicly denounce Chatfield’s involvement in his campaign now that he knows of the former elected official’s illegal act of assaulting a minor.”

The National Sexual Assault Hotline is 24 hours and can be reached at 1-800-656-4673.

The post MDP Chair Lavora Barnes Calls on James Craig to Disavow Campaign Adviser Lee Chatfield As He Faces Allegations of Sexual Assault appeared first on Michigan Democratic Party.