A top Democratic state Senate campaign official has been suspended amid sexual harassment allegations, the Capital-Star has learned.
David Marshall, executive director of the Pennsylvania Senate Democratic Campaign Committee – the political arm of the club that raises funds, recruits candidates and manages campaigns to elect Democratic state senators to the General Assembly – confirmed to the Capital-Star that he has been temporarily suspended.
The allegations will be investigated by a lawyer specializing in labor law, which Marshall denies.
In a September 20 post published on the website Medium blog sitea woman named Miranda Cohen claims that Marshall subjected her to “comments” and “touching” before he “locked me in his office and wouldn’t let me leave until I kissed him.”
Cohen was asked to review the allegations, which she detailed in a formal workplace complaint, at the behest of a former colleague earlier this year, she writes in the post.
“[Marshall] was my supervisor, it was my first week on the job and I was shocked,” Cohen wrote. “I’m still shaking. Today I feel like that girl again. I’m 19 years aged and I’m scared, my heart is beating speedy, I’m afraid of what would happen if I didn’t comply. I’m afraid of what would happen if I did it.
Marshall told the Capital-Star on Tuesday that he “in no way harassed or attacked Miranda Cohen. I’m sure the investigation will show this.
“I appreciate it [Senate Minority Leader Jay] Costa takes the allegations seriously and will provide me with due process,” Marshall continued.
When asked by a reporter at the Allegheny County Capitol, he declined to comment, saying it was a personnel matter.
Sen. Vincent Hughes, who chairs the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, said attorney Patricia Pierce will investigate the allegations. He directed all other questions to Pierce.
“The charges brought against the above-mentioned Medium.com are very disturbing,” the Philadelphia Democrat said in a statement. “As a result, SDCC has retained a lawyer to investigate the allegations and will hopefully receive the results soon. In the meantime, David Marshall has been suspended from SDCC pending the results of the investigation.”
In the Medium post, Cohen claims that reporters interviewed her about the allegations and she expressed frustration that the article was not published.
Although he was not named in Cohen’s position, Capital-Star is investigating the allegations after independently learning of them in March 2019. Reporting is ongoing.
Cohen confirmed to Capital-Star on Tuesday that she was the author of the post. She declined to comment on Marshall’s statement.
Sen. Katie Muth, R-Chester, and Sen. Tim Kearney, D-Delaware, told the Capital-Star on Tuesday that they had both been informed of Marshall’s suspension.
Sen. Maria Collett, D-Montgomery, told the Capital-Star that she was unaware that Marshall had been placed on leave but stated that she had read Cohen’s post on Medium. The information was shared with her via text message.
“The truth is that if this is in the hands of anyone – Democrat or Republican – regardless of their position, we need to hold people accountable,” she said.
The allegations against Marshall come shortly after Costa and other top Senate Democrats renewed their demands for the resignation of state Sen. Daylin Leach of Montgomery.
The final report released Friday shows that Eckert Seamans investigated the harassment allegations made against Leach and found that he did not violate any federal employment laws.
On Monday, Senate President pro tempore Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson, removed Leach from the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee at Costa’s request on Monday.
