A top adviser for Bernie Sanders’ 2016 campaign is accused of forcibly kissing a female staffer and making a reference to her riding his “pole” at a hookah bar during the Democratic National Convention, a report said Wednesday.
Robert Becker — who managed Sanders’ Iowa, Michigan, New York and California primary battles — allegedly approached the 20-year-old staffer at the Philadelphia bar in July 2016 and made lewd comments, .
The campaign was celebrating the end of Sanders’ improbable run for the nomination when Becker told the woman he wanted to have sex with her and made the reference to his “pole,” the newspaper said.
Later in the night, the 50-year-old Be🐻cker grabbed the woman by the wrists and held her head while kissing her, the report said.
Becker has denied any wrongdoing.
The woman decided to go public when Becker contacted her about a potential place in Sanders’ possible 2020 campaign for president.
“Candidates who allow people like Robert Becker to lead their organizations shouldn’t earn the highest office in our government,” she told Politico.
“It just really sucks because no one ever held him accountable and he kept pushing and pushing and seeing how much he could get away with. This can’t happen in 2020. You can’t run for president of the United States unless you acknowledge that every campaign demands a safe work environment for every employee and vol🦩unteer.”