Baruti Artharee, Former Mayoral Aide at the Center of a Portland City Council Tempest, Responds

The man at the center of a Portland election-season controversy is defending himself against the charge that he "engaged in some kind of serious sexual misconduct" against County Commissioner Loretta Smith.

Baruti Artharee, an aide to former mayor Charlie Hales, admitted in WW to 2013 that he commented on Smith's appearance at an event organized for black leaders and others: "Here's our beautiful commissioner, Loretta Smith. Mmm, mmm, mmm, she looks good tonight," he recounted at the time to WW.

He was ultimately suspended from his job at the mayor's office for a week for violating city policy against workplace harassment, before he later resigned.

Artharee's name resurfaced last week when he got up at an arts forum for Portland City Council candidates and danced the Electric Slide with front-runner Jo Ann Hardesty, Smith's opponent.

Smith made the matter a campaign issue—telling WW she viewed his dancing a few feet away from her as "a re-victimizing" of her.

Arathee returned fire in an open letter to Smith, a copy of which he emailed to WW. (The full letter is below.)

"You should be ashamed of yourself," he wrote. "For your own selfish political interests, last week you disgraced the many courageous women who in recent months have come forward with legitimate complaints of sexual harassment and assault. Your recent public comments about me falsely implied that I previously engaged in some kind of serious sexual misconduct against you. You know that it untrue and far from anything close to truth."

Both candidates declined to comment, but Smith's campaign objected to the idea she had not experienced sexual harassment.

"Trying to silence people who experience sexual harassment is the very thing that the #MeToo movement has been fighting," says campaign manager Elizabeth Mazzara Myers. "Our campaign stands with Loretta and all others who have experienced sexual harassment."

The Hardesty campaign said the candidate was unaware of the letter when contacted by WW.

"This is the first that Jo Ann is hearing about the letter," says campaign manager Anna Nguyen. "She doesn't know anything about it or these accusations. We're focused on the issues that are critical to working families and how Jo Ann can help solve those issues on the City Council, especially with only 25 days left. At this very moment, we're working on a questionnaire on housing and homelessness that is due later today."

Here is Artharee's letter in its entirety:

Clarification: This post has been clarified to make clear that the city suspended Artharee after his comments were determined to be harassment.

Baruti Artharee, Former Mayoral Aide at the Center of a Portland City Council Tempest, Responds

"You should be ashamed of yourself," Artharee wrote to Smith. Artharee was suspended from his job over suggestive comments he publicly made about Smith in 2013.