I am so sorry this happened to you and that you didn’t get the support from Bermans office. However it doesn’t surprise me. I am proud that you are taking a strong stance. Berman needs to go for a lot of reasons.

I'm so incredibly grateful for the bravery of women like Ruth Ferguson! Her articulate, thoughtful piece should be an eye-opener for all of us.

I'm saddened by the apparent "greenwashing" by the legislature in passing a much heralded legislative reform that seems to be terribly flawed. The lack of accountability for our elected officials and their staff is a serious problem. And while I think quite highly of Assemblyman Berman (my representative), I'm struck by how his response at the end of the article is either naive or dishonest. The fact that the WCU report couldn't be shared with the complainant due to "attorney-client privilege" begs the question -- who's the client? If it is the legislature or leadership, then Assemblyman Berman's statement that it is an "independent investigatory authority" is simply not true. If it was prepared by counsel for the WCU, then WCU (as a true independent authority) has the ability to waive the privilege and share the report (or at least a redacted version of the report) with the complainant.

Ultimately, every member of the California electorate should be outraged by this ominous tale. (After all, we all have sisters, daughters or mothers who have suffered too much of the type of behavior that Ms. Ferguson suffered.) Perhaps we should have a referendum that requires the legislature to abide by the strictest version of oversight, accountability, and enforcement that they adopt for others.

At the end of the day, without such accountability, can we really expect this behavior to change?

R. Todd Johnson

Ms. Ferguson wrote a valuable and detailed article about this problem. Shame on Marc Berman .

Thank you for sharing your story - your efforts will help others. It's amazing that things like this can still happen in our supposedly enlightened state.

I am so very sorry to find that a structure set up to make outing abusers possible has been stopped by politicals' cya actions. Berman should be turned out at the first opportunity.

I am so sorry to hear about what happened to Ms. Ferguson. This just adds one more reason to the long list of reasons for why Berman needs to go. He's not fit for purpose.

First, I have to commend you for stepping forward to share your experience, I am sure it was not easy to do so. If there is anything I can do to help please let me know.