SALT LAKE CITY — Details of an independent investigation into accusations of discriminatory behavior and harassment against Sen. Kathleen Riebe were released on Friday.
The heavily redacted report, provided to FOX 13 News under a public records request, includes claims that Sen. Riebe, D-Cottonwood Heights, made comments about staffers that carried a "racial undertone" and demanded no interns who were Latter-day Saint or gay.
The report concluded that Sen. Riebe had violated the Utah State Legislature's workforce discrimination prevention policies.
Details on discriminatory behavior, harassment investigation into Sen. Kathleen Riebe released:
When FOX 13 News contacted Sen. Riebe for comment via text message on the investigation report being released, she replied: "I haven't seen it yet." FOX 13 News then provided her with a copy of the report. Sen. Riebe said said she needed time to review the investigative report and its findings before commenting further.
When a Utah State Senate staffer initially filed a complaint against Riebe with the legislature's human resources arm, it was automatically sent to an outside law firm to conduct an independent investigation.
Investigators interviewed numerous witnesses who made accusations against Riebe, including a meeting on dual-language immersion programs where she allegedly said: "Who even speaks [redacted] ?"
"Senator Riebe said she does not recall the dual immersion conversation or saying 'who speaks [redacted]?'" the report said.
The investigative report claims Sen. Riebe also demanded she "did not want 'any intern who had just come out of the closet.'"
"In her interview, [redacted] stated that Senator Riebe told [redacted], and told them not to pick anyone for her who was gay," a heavily redacted portion of the report said. "[Redacted] recognized that they could not actually do this because it was discriminatory."
The report said witnesses claimed Riebe said she does not want any LGBTQ+ interns placed with her, but also did not want any LDS interns.
"Senator Riebe said that she never said she does not want 'gay boys' as her interns," the report said, adding: "She acknowledged that she said to Witness 6 and [redacted] that she did not want interns who are coming out of the closet placed with her."
The conclusions were that Riebe "more likely than not" engaged in a pattern of conduct motivated by the staffer's race or national origin; made comments based on someone's sexual orientation or characteristics; and that her conduct violated legislative HR policies.
The report listed recommended corrective actions that were redacted. The Senate Minority Caucus has sought to expel Sen. Riebe from their membership and called for her to resign. Sen. Riebe previously said in a statement she would not resign.
"I take workplace concerns seriously," she wrote in the statement. "I also dispute material characterizations of my conduct that have been relayed to me."
The independent investigation said a Senate staffer in the Minority Caucus offices originally filed a complaint on Sept. 14 describing a "pattern of conduct" against her by Riebe. The senator then filed her own "counter-complaint that I have created a hostile work environment" on Sept. 21, disputing the allegations and saying that she had objected to the Senate staffer working on a senator's political campaign, "creating 'a bias for one senator over the others.'"
"Senator Riebe states she believes the complaint 'is retribution because I verbally shared that a constituent sent me a picture of her running Sen. [redacted] campaign,'" the investigation report said. "She describes her working relationship with [redacted] as 'mostly productive,' states she asked [redacted] 'not to speak over me or interrupt me because I am the caucus manager,' and asserts [redacted]’s close relationship with Senator has created a detrimental 'allegiance.'"
The investigation considered the account of a Senate staffer who "stated that she believes Riebe mistreats her because she is 'Brown,' that the Senator does not like what [redacted] has achieved despite being an immigrant, and that the Senator is always nicer to others who are White and nicer to non-immigrants. She observed that the senators Riebe complained the most about were women of color, most often Senator Escamilla, and that she believes Senator Escamilla and the other women of color are the real targets."
The report quoted a witness saying: "'I think there’s a contribution of race,' and that Senator Riebe likes White, liberal, non-LGBTQIA+, non-Mormon, non-religious people."
Another witness told the investigator that "'I do believe that Senator Riebe has issues with women of color,' and that although the Senator is mean to everyone, she is much more so to [redacted]."
The Senate staffer also alleged Riebe made comments on her clothes, shoes and asked if she rented them and, "when she was pregnant, asked how she was able to buy so many clothes that fit her; it further states that during the 20[redacted] session, while pregnant, the Senator would always tell her she was “fat,” “huge,” and make other comments relating to her size."
"Senator Riebe said that [redacted] has an amazing wardrobe and that it is a lot of clothes, but that she never asked how [redacted] could afford it. She stated that on seeing nice shoes she exclaimed, “you have $2000 pair of shoes?”, and that that is all she said. She denies ever making any comments about [redacted]’s body while [redacted] was pregnant."
A witness also said Riebe urged them not to trust the Majority Caucus office staffers, claiming that "after a committee meeting, Senator Riebe pulled him aside and said not to trust anybody in the majority office or [redacted], that [redacted] is a snake and that he should make sure not to take her limelight..."
"Senator Riebe, questioned on this at length, said she has told people 'watch your back' and 'careful what you say,' that she says this to everyone, and repeated 'to everyone, all the time be careful.' She said she did not single any particular person out," the report said.
The report went into other instances where witnesses claimed berating comments and behavior by Sen. Riebe, including a heavily redacted portion on a Senate staffer's employment termination. The report claims Sen. Riebe questioned people's immigration status and why undocumented immigrants were getting in-state tuition, and during a legislative session luncheon blamed the 2024 presidential election on LGBTQ people, "saying words to the effect of 'what these people have done to the party,' and that 'immigrant issues' and 'queer issues' cost the Democratic Party the election."
"Witness 5 said Senator Riebe 'has a very bigoted view of people’s value and people’s worth' and sees people of color, queer people, and immigrants as 'problems,'" the report said.
The report said Riebe denied the accusations.
Independent investigators also interviewed people who spoke favorably of Sen. Riebe, though the investigators appear not to have put much weight on their testimonies.
"Witness 7 described Senator Riebe as friendly and easy-going, caring with staff, and direct in policy meetings, which she attributed to the Senator's East Coast roots, but said she did not think the Senator was uncaring. Witness 7 said she did not notice Senator Riebe treating others differently and did not recall the Senator expressing any preference regarding the placement of interns or staff as to any protected class," the report said. "She recounted that Senator Riebe expressed disbelief about the investigation-'can you believe this is happening?' and 'I have nothing to hide.'"