Democratic California Rep. Katie Porter said on Monday that “bad bosses” are more commonly women and people of color when responding to accusations that she ran a toxic work environment, according to an interview on The View.
Porter appeared on ABC’s The View on Monday to discuss her new book “I Swear: Politics Is Messier Than My Mini Van,” according to the show’s Twitter. She spoke highly of her staff and alleged that women and people of color are treated differently in leadership positions when asked to respond to accusations of fostering a “toxic workplace,” according to a clip from the show. (RELATED: ‘It’s Completely Disgusting’: Piers Morgan Presses Dem Rep On Protecting Women’s Rights)
“Lots of the so-called bad bosses are women and disproportionately people of color,” she said. “I think it’s really unfortunate because those are the very voices we need more of in our government. So I’m proud of my staff. I’m proud of the relationship we’ve built and proud to have them as my team moving forward.”
Anonymous reports were published accusing Porter of “disparaging” staff members, making “racist” comments and having unrealistic expectations after text messages surfaced in December showing Porter allegedly scolding a staffer for giving her COVID-19, Politico reported. Porter’s office later clarified that the staffer had not been fired, as was speculated online by the Twitter account Dear White Staffers, but that the staffer was a fellow with an already agreed-upon end date who had “breached COVID protocol in July.”
Katie Porter responds to her former staffers who have said she’s a really toxic person: “Lots of the so-called bad bosses are women and disproportionately people of color.”
pic.twitter.com/glykHGWvS2— Greg Price (@greg_price11) April 17, 2023
“I think we see, and I saw this as a professor, certainly, female professors, particularly women of color, get much worse teaching evaluations, even when all the professional evaluations are the same,” Porter said in her response. “And so we see this again and again.”
Porter praised her staff for their work and said that her book, which was published April 11, is dedicated to them.
“I may stand in front of them, but they are really the ones leading the way,” she said. “For every viral moment you see, for every white board that I get the words spelled correctly and I know what I’m talking about, there’s a ton of amazing people behind me and helping me and I’m so grateful for them.”
Recent allegations state that Porter had dumped a bowl of “steaming hot boiled potatoes” on her ex-husband’s head, according to divorce documents obtained by the Daily Mail. Her ex-husband also alleged she shouted obscenities, would not let him have a cell phone because he was “too f***ing dumb to operate it” and would claw at her arms while blaming him for the scratches.
Porter announced in January she will run for Senate in 2024.
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