BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana Secretary of State Tom Schedler has returned to the state capitol for the first time since a lawsuit alleged he sexually harassed one of his employees for a decade.
Schedler, Louisiana's top elections official, appeared before the House Appropriations Committee for a budget hearing Tuesday. His attendance came less than a week after he publicly rejected calls to resign but said he won't run for re-election next year.
Schedler's budget hearing was brief. None of the lawmakers asked questions about the sexual harassment allegations or the pending lawsuit.
The lawsuit claims Schedler harassed a woman who worked in his office for years and punished her when she rebuffed repeated advances. At a press conference last week, the Republican didn't respond directly to the allegations but called the lawsuit "unfair."
