Thurston County Commissioner Accused of ‘Pattern of Abusive, Unwanted Sexual Behavior’

By Mitchell Roland / [email protected]

A Thurston County employee who reports to County Commissioner Emily Clouse accused her of a “pattern of abusive, unwanted sexual conduct” and fired him 30 minutes after he reported the alleged harassment to the county, according to a letter from an attorney representing the employee obtained by the Chronicle.

“The purpose of this letter is to inform the County of (the client's) claims and to officially notify the County of our representation (the client) in the matter at issue here,” Edward Earl Younglove III, an attorney with Younglove, Coker and Rhodes, wrote in a letter to the county.

Maia Robbins, an attorney with Seattle-based law firm Corr Cronin who is representing Clouse, told The Chronicle on Thursday that the letter “simply uses false allegations to capitalize on the taxpayers of Thurston County.”

“As the Chairman of the Board of Commissioners stated on September 3, the third-party investigation confirmed that the seditious allegations made against Commissioner Clouse were without merit,” Robbins wrote Thursday. “This letter from counsel, sent two days later, does not make those allegations factual.”

Robbins said the complaint being investigated “represents the end of a very ordinary workplace relationship.”

Younglove did not respond to the Chronicle's request for comment Thursday. In the letter, Younglove wrote that his client was “willing to discuss a reasonable resolution of his claims or, if that is not possible, to pursue a claim for damages and, if necessary, to file a lawsuit.”

Younglove's letter was sent approximately three weeks after Clouse was fired from her county board and commission assignments, and one week after Thurston County Commissioners received a “preliminary oral report” of a third-party workplace investigation.

In a joint statement on September 6, Clouse's colleagues said “the allegations made against Commissioner Clouse are extremely concerning.”

“The investigator's initial oral report ruled out some aspects of these allegations. However, questions remain on the part of the committee about Commissioner Clouse's judgment and conduct with respect to the specifics of the situation,” the committee said in the statement signed by Commissioners Tye Menser, Wayne Fournier, Carolina Mejia and Gary Edwards.

According to the Commissioners' statement, the Board will publish a final written report upon completion.

“The Board thanks the public and employees for their patience as it navigates what has become a very disruptive situation,” the joint statement said.

Robbins said Clouse could take legal action against her colleagues if she is not reinstated to the boards and commissions on which she represents the county.

In the Sept. 5 letter to Jane Futterman, an assistant Thurston County prosecutor, Younglove wrote that Clouse's conduct as a direct supervisor had become “increasingly indecent and undesirable.”

“Although leaked reports speak of consensual conduct between the two and particularly with respect to (the client), this is not a legal standard and is not consistent with the assumption that Commissioner Clouse's conduct was 'desirable,'” Younglove wrote.

Younglove wrote, “Commissioner Clouse's conduct toward (the client) became increasingly indecent and undesirable during his employment with the County. The nature of some of this conduct is captured in text messages and videos.”

According to the letter, Clouse's conduct created both a “hostile work environment” and “qualified as quid pro quo sexual harassment.”

The attorney noted a “power imbalance” between Clouse and the employee and wrote that his client repeatedly stated that he had to do what Commissioner Clouse asked “to keep his job.”

According to the letter, the employee received a termination letter signed by Clouse within 30 minutes of notifying the county's human resources department of the alleged harassment on July 26.

“A few days later, on July 29, 2024, during a meeting with senior county officials, (the client) was asked how much money it would take to keep quiet about his harassment allegations by Commissioner Clouse,” Younglove wrote.

In the letter, Younglove wrote that the investigation itself was a violation of state law. According to the employee, he was placed on leave shortly after that interaction, making him “the subject of suspicions that he was guilty of misconduct.”

Clouse, a Democrat, was elected to the Thurston County Board of Commissioners with 59.9% of the vote in the 2023 election. Clouse was sworn in during a commission meeting in November 2023.