Utah Democratic Party cancels meeting to address Sen. Gene Davis

SALT LAKE CITY — Members of the Utah Democratic Party’s Executive Committee have voted to cancel their request for a Special Central Committee Meeting on August 23 involving Sen. Gene Davis, D-Salt Lake City.

The meeting would have further addressed allegations of sexual harassment made by a former intern against Davis.

In a press release, Utah County Democrats Chair Katie L. Adams-Anderton said that eight county chairs and the majority of UDP members believe Davis’ temporary suspension by the state party, and the party’s request that Davis resigns, have already met the objectives of the requested meeting.

“Since UDP has agreed to place Sen. Davis on a temporary suspension until the State Senate investigation is completed and has asked for his resignation, we believe the objectives for the meeting, as outlined in our letter to UDP, have been accomplished,” Adams-Anderton said.

She also said that the UDP has been in touch with the intern that made the allegations against Davis and that they “received her approval to cancel the meeting given UDP’s statement.”

Davis has been suspended from party functions by both county and state Democratic parties.

The meeting request was made last week by a group of more than 50 members of the UDP.  At that time they stated they wanted to force a vote on banning Davis from party responsibilities or functions because of the allegations of sexual harassment.

But the Utah Democratic Party has already temporarily suspended Davis from any party responsibilities, as has the Salt Lake County Democratic Party.

Not long after the allegations against Davis first came to light, Utah Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, ordered an independent investigation into the allegations toward Davis. That investigation continues.

The allegations toward Davis were made by a former intern in an Instagram post, which is no longer available. However, in our previous reporting, KSL NewsRadio said that the senator would “invade” the intern’s personal boundaries. The intern said they doubted the Utah Democratic Party would appropriately handle allegations of sexual assault made against someone in the Democrat’s “inner circle.”

Related reading:

• ‘So no one else gets hurt:’ Utah Democratic Party pushes for Davis suspension
• Senate President orders investigation after allegations of sexual harassment against Sen. Gene Davis
• Sen. Gene Davis suspended by Utah Democratic Party after accusations of sexual harassment

 

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