An Iowa Senator, who was accused of sexual misconduct, has had his allegations dismissed by the Senate Ethics Committee.
District 24 Senator Jerry Behn of Boone is the Ethics Committee Chair and he tells Raccoon Valley Radio that the six-member committee voted unanimously to dismiss the complaint that Senator Nate Boulton allegedly touched a woman inappropriately in 2015, citing that they didn’t have jurisdiction to move forward in the matter. Behn says the alleged incident took place before Boulton was elected a senator and according to Iowa Code Section 68B.31, the Senate Ethics Committee can only preside over conduct cases involving senators, lobbyists or clients of lobbyists, which at the time Boulton wasn’t any of those.
Behn points out that the ethics committee is the only committee that has balanced membership of three Republicans and three Democrats, which all voted unanimously to dismiss the complaint. Behn noted that the decision was made Thursday morning.