A glamorous Washington state lawmaker bullied a male aide into sex, then made him run her errands and tried to fire him when he reported her, a lawsuit claims.
Emily Clouse, 30, is said to have begun a ‘mutually consensual dating relationship’ with the unnamed man after being elected as a commissioner in Thurston County, which includes the state’s capital of Olympia.
But the aide alleges he felt unable to reject Clouse’s advances because of the power she held over him and says he found the romance ‘increasingly unwelcome.’
‘It was clear to the Plaintiff, however, that if the Plaintiff wanted to remain employed, he would need to continue his personal intimate relationship of a sexual nature with Commissioner Clouse,’ the claim alleges.
Clouse is said to have exploited the man into driving her around, buying her food and drinks and loaning her cash which he says she never repaid, the Spokane Spokesman-Review reported.
He branded her an abuser and reported her behavior to Thurston County’s human resources department on July 26.
Clouse, who was sworn into her role in November 2023, tried to fire him 30 minutes later and subsequently accused the aide of sexually assaulting her.
The aide says other Thurston County officials tried to suppress his claims, allegedly asking him ‘what amount of money’ it would take to make his claims go away.
He was put on administrative leave, which the aide says gave him the impression of being ‘guilty of wrongdoing.’
A lawsuit filed Wednesday in Thurston County Superior Court accuses Commissioner Emily Clouse of sexually harassing and retaliating against her former executive aide
In a statement last week, Clouse’s lawyer, Maia Robbins, said that Clouse had just recently ended a relationship with a colleague, but did not specify if it was the aide in question.
‘Both the dating relationship and the employment relationship recently ended. The County has chosen to investigate that relationship out of an abundance of caution,’ Robbins wrote.
The suit says the combination of Clouse’s and Thurston County’s alleged behavior caused the aide ‘prolonged stress, physical harm, emotional distress, embarrassment, trauma and humiliation.’
It was filed two months after a separate lawsuit was filed against the county by the same aide, seeking $750,000 in damages.
The second suit was filed by lawyers for the aide earlier this week over claims Thurston County had failed to take the initial legal claim seriously.
Clouse was suspended from some of her duties in August while a probe was launched into her alleged abuse.
She remains a voting member of Thurston County’s board of commissioners but has been banned from representing the county in public.
Thurston County vowed to release a report into the allegations by early September, but it has yet to materialize.
Clouse tried and failed to get herself reinstated to all her appointments last week.
Her lawyer Maia Robbins branded the aide’s allegations against her ‘fiction.’
Robbins added: ‘The allegations in the complaint are absurd on their face and have already been dispelled by an internal workplace investigation.
According to the complaint, Clouse initiated a ‘mutually consensual dating relationship’ with the aide, who felt pressured to comply to keep his job
In August, three of her fellow commissioners voted to suspend her from some of her duties while the county investigated the workplace relationship with the aide
Thurston County has declined to comment on the claims, citing pending litigation.
Clouse’s official website describes her as a ‘lifelong resident of Thurston County’ and Army veteran who served as a Military Intelligence Analyst.
After leaving the military, Clouse returned home to help manage her family’s businesses.
She subsequently obtained a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Washington Tacoma.
Clouse’s political interests include helping rehabilitate young offenders and support for homeless people.
