State Rep. Duane Hall, Accused Of Sexual Harassment, Will Not Step Down

A North Carolina state legislator says he won't step down even though fellow Democrats — including Gov. Roy Cooper — called on him to resign following a media report in which people said he made unwanted sexual advances.

The story on Rep. Duane Hall of Raleigh was reported last week by N.C. Policy Watch.

WFDD's Sean Bueter spoke with WUNC political reporter Jeff Tiberii about what's happened so far and where the story may go from here.

Interview Highlights

On what's happened since the story broke:

Leading Democrats – the leader of the minority party, also a Wake County House Democrat, and Gov. Roy Cooper – they called on Hall to resign. And for a couple of days there was nothing. There was no response from Duane Hall. I had a relatively short conversation [with Hall] on the phone. He also sent me a statement. But he says...he is not stepping down and he is denying these allegations.

Hall says this story is part of a personal vendetta waged by N.C. Policy Watch. What's he talking about?

What he's referring to is a relationship that he had with a young woman who works for the [North Carolina] Justice Center, which is the parent organization for N.C. Policy Watch. That woman, her name is Megan Glazier, is the daughter of Rick Glazier. Rick Glazer is a former Democrat who served in the North Carolina House and was actually a colleague of Duane Hall's, and Hall says that this piece is a months-long effort to go after him because of that relationship.

Now, I would note that I spoke with someone from Policy Watch, and they said that they had been working on this story for a long time, they'd been working on a broader piece about sexual harassment. And it was toward the end of the reporting that they determined that Rep. Hall had a relationship with Megan Glazier.

They talked about whether or not to disclose that within their story and they didn't. You know, that's one of the questions here. It doesn't necessarily mean the allegations aren't true or don't hold up. But the question of whether or not this should have been disclosed is something that Duane Hall is certainly pointing toward.

On what might happen next:

To some extent that is unclear. My hunch is that this is going to get messier before it dissipates.

It will be interesting to see if there are more stories, if there are additional witnesses, or additional incidents, or other news outlets, or other things that could follow in what we've learned in the last few days here.

I think from a bigger perspective, one of the questions that I'm following is what does happen from a standpoint of reporting procedures at the North Carolina General Assembly. There's not an independent procedure in place where people who are alleging sexual misconduct can go and file a complaint. I think that conversation has been percolating for the last few weeks, and I think it has reemerged with this Hall story.

(Ed.: This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.)