It turns out that the effort to keep taxpayers ignorant of harassment claims paid to victims of abusive members of Congress – using our own money – may be futile in a least some cases.  The victims signed confidentiality agreements, and so did Congress.  So the two sides are mutually forbidden to spill the beans.   

But the veil of silence does not cover third parties who were aware of the harassment and settlements.  And people do talk among themselves about such scandalous doings.  Not only that, but once they see other people talking, those in the know are inspired to loosen their lips.  Thus, we learn from The Hill:

Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), the longest-serving current House member, reportedly settled a wrongful dismissal complaint in 2015 after a former employee accused him of firing her for resisting his "sexual advances."

Four former staffers signed affidavits, three of which were notarized, saying that Conyers, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, repeatedly made engaged in unwanted sexual behavior with his female staff, BuzzFeed News reported Monday night. 

Documents examined by BuzzFeed described a wide-range of inappropriate conduct, including making requests for sexual favors, caressing and touching, as well as having his staff contact and transport women they believed were sexually involved with him.

Four unnamed sources who were involved with the case confirmed to BuzzFeed News that the documents are authentic.

The following makes me wonder if criminal misuse of taxpayer funds might be an issue:

Two women wrote in their affidavits that they believed Conyers used office resources to pay for the travels of women with whom he was having affairs. 

If there was no business necessity for the women in question to travel, then their travel expenses were wrongfully obtained from taxpayers.  Even if not, it appears that there is a pattern:

Another staffer described the task of driving women to and from the lawmaker's apartment and hotel rooms.

The woman who claimed wrongful dismissal claims that Conyers would ask her to work with him in private rooms where he would allegedly start describing sexual fantasies to her, including encouraging her to "touch" his penis. 

Another former employee recalled a similar incident ...

This is just getting started, folks.  Stay tuned for reactions to Conyers and for more leaks from angry Capitol Hill staffers who watched bribes paid to female colleagues to buy their silence.  The anger the women have felt for years is cascading out.

Call me crazy, but I suspect that far more Dems will be implicated than Republicans.  One party celebrates libertinism and granted a famous pass to Bill Clinton's abuse because he supports abortion.  The other party is home to social conservatives and forces abusers out when their misdeeds become known.  So in which party are people more likely to give free rein to their sexual impulses?

Update (hat tip: Instapundit):

John Conyers settled charges of sexually harassing staffers during the time his wife was in prison for taking bribes on the Detroit City Council.

The perfect Democrat power couple.

— Dan McLaughlin (@baseballcrank) November 21, 2017