California Senator Marie Alvarado-Gil is facing sexual assault allegations by her former chief of staff, Chad Condit-- the son of former Congressman Gary Condit, just months after introducing a bill against sexual harassment and firing Condit for allegedly refusing her advances.
In a video posted on X, Alvarado-Gil spoke on the prevalence of sexual assault and violence in the US while seeking support for her bill.
The Senator goes on to highlight that an American is sexually assaulted every 73 seconds, explaining the crime affects people of all genders and sexualities.
"If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please know that it is not your fault," she continued.
The bill, which sought to make rape of an intoxicated person a violent felony and sought stricter punishment for sex crimes, was passed in the Senate on August 31, according to NDTV.
On Thursday, Condit, who alleges the Senator forced him to do sexual favors while she was his boss, filed a civil lawsuit against her in the Sacramento Superior Court.
The lawsuit addresses allegations of sexual harassment, discrimination, retaliation, and violations of other state labor laws.
Condit portrays Alvardo-Gil as an erratic, controlling, sexually abusive authority figure.
He states that the senator pressured him into performing sex acts on her while they went on work trips over the years to protect his job and maintained a "sexual quid pro quo relationship" that left him injured in the back and hip.
Alvardo-Gil's lawyer has responded to the allegations, calling them "rubbish" while hitting back at the former aide, whom he says is "disgruntled."
"A disgruntled former employee has fabricated an outlandish story, presented without evidence, to get a payday. We expect that the senator will be fully cleared of any wrongdoing of these bogus, financially motivated claims," he told the New York Post.
Condit's father, Gary Condit, who represented California's 18th congressional district in the House of Representatives from 1989 to 2003, was embroiled in a scandal of his own when, in May 2001, it was revealed he had an affair with Chandra Levy, an intern with the Federal Bureau of Prisons, who had gone missing and eventually found dead.
April is National #SexualAssaultAwarenessMonth, and I am leading the charge with Senate Bill 268 – my bill will address a critical gap in the state's criminal justice system by reclassifying the rape of an intoxicated person as a violent felony. DETAILS: https://t.co/5jKLIaXlYG pic.twitter.com/p5pNC92PXS
— Senator Marie Alvarado-Gil (@AlvaradoGilSD4) April 12, 2024
