Rachel Maddow, Andrea Mitchell, and More Female Colleagues Co-Sign Letter Supporting Tom Brokaw

[DonViejo]

by Tamar Auber | 8:02 pm, April 27th, 2018

-snip-

In a letter obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, both past and current colleagues of Brokaw write that the seasoned journalist “has treated each of us with fairness and respect. He has given each of us opportunities for advancement and championed our successes throughout our careers.”

The letter concludes, “We know him to be a man of tremendous decency and integrity.”

Read the full letter, via The Hollywood Reporter, below:

Subject: Letter on Tom Brokaw

As professional women, we fully endorse the conversation around abuse of power in the workplace. In the context of that conversation, we would like to share our perspectives on working with Tom Brokaw.

We are current and former colleagues of Tom’s, who have worked with him over a period spanning four decades. We are producers, correspondents, anchors, directors, executives, researchers, personal assistants, editors and technical staff.

Tom has treated each of us with fairness and respect. He has given each of us opportunities for advancement and championed our successes throughout our careers. As we have advanced across industries — news, publishing, law, business and government — Tom has been a valued source of counsel and support. We know him to be a man of tremendous decency and integrity.

Signed,

Susanna Aaron

Anne Binford Allen

Heather Allan

Marilyn Altman

Liz Bowyer

Mary Casalino

Christine Colvin Casper

Martha Cotton

Karen Curry

Sara Cusimano

Helene Darvick

Linda Ellman

Judy Farinet

Dianne Festa

Tammy Fine

Mary Laurence Flynn

Susan Friedman

Soraya Gage

Maralyn Gelefsky

Cheryl Gould

Erika Beck Grothues

Colleen Halpin

Jody Henenfeld

Susan Morris Holey

Julie Holstein

Julie Huang

Peggy Hubble

Kiko Itasaka

Nancy Jacoby

Kat Keeney

Ann Kolbell

Audrey Beles Kolina

Susan LaSalla

Rachel Maddow

Donna Mastrangelo-Ryan

Andrea Mitchell

Mauri Moore

Frieda Morris

Elena Nachmanoff

Michele Neubert

Kelly O’Donnell

Bonnie Optekman

Mary Alice O’Rourke

Nancy Doyle Palmer

Polly Powell

Meaghan Rady

Elizabeth Vaughan Romaine

Amy Rosenberg

Stephanie Ruhle

Bita Ryan

Ruby Shamir

Maria Shriver

Robin Skolnick

Andrea Smith

Patricia Sullivan

Clare Duffy Swift

Yuka Tachibana

Bambi Tascarella

Zoya Taylor

Dee Dee Thomas

Anne Thompson

Kelly Venardos

Kristen Welker

Carolyn Wheatley

Mary Wolf

Update: After the publication of the letter, MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski sent out a tweet, calling for her name to be added to the list of those showing support.

Link to tweet

full article
https://www.mediaite.com/online/rachel-maddow-andrea-mitchell-and-more-female-colleagues-co-sign-letter-supporting-tom-brokaw/

[OnDoutside]

1. Wow, interesting.

[m-lekktor]

2. OFFS. well. I suppose Brokaw and his apologists can claim it is a plot by Russia and Berniebros

to take him down.

[Loki Liesmith]

4. Two allegations of bad behavior from the 90s. Several dozen otherwise.

Won’t care unless I see some credible evidence.

[emulatorloo]

28. Your misguided pre-emptive strike is adorable, but I think your crystal ball has malfunctioned

[Skidmore]

3. Where's their support of Joy? nt

[Hortensis]

6. Different situation. Without attention, this is a smallburger.

Allegations of sexual abuse are far more serious.

What would they say if they tried to blow this up onto the big screen, anyway, that those messages Joy did in fact publish should be evaluated both in their own immediate context and in the context of her very decent life?

This is just another right wing effort to take out an influential voice for the left. We all know that's true, but attention is gasoline on the fire the right is trying to get going.

[MaryMagdaline]

29. He's not a lefty. He's Republican, but yes, his network is perceived

As left. He was a neocon all the way.

This may, in fact, be payback for what is happening to Fox News, but it doesn't mean it's not true. 20 years may make it unknowable. Right now I have this in the unknowable column.

[LenaBaby61]

35. "He's not a lefty. He's Republican."

Exactly.

But you have right-wingers painting him as this Obama-loving, wild-eyed lefty because he's a contributer to MSNBC which is also NOT a left-wing outlet

But Brokaw's never been this wild-eyed leftist that right-wingers are trying to paint him as. He's a righty. Always has been. They just want him smeared (IF this is a smearing), because they want to take down a "lefty" which Brokaw has never been.

As for the sexual misconduct allegations against Tom Brokaw, minus solid/credible evidence and other credible claims You DO have folks like crazy righty Roger Stone who most definitely would hatch up a plan to take out a good strong Dem, which is what I feel he accomplished with Al Franken. Well, his job was easy because many on the left ate Al's lunch and ran him out of the party minus due process.

[Hortensis]

42. :) I was referring to Joy.

As for Brokaw, I have no opinion about origin. Agree honesty requires us to hold these things in the unknowable column, but this letter from all these women speaking up for Brokaw certainly needs to be appended.

[MaryMagdaline]

43. Agree on Joy. Agnostic on Brokaw. Thx for clarification

[MaryMagdaline]

5. Really questionable move. So a man treats you with respect

Means that he could not have made unwanted advances on someone else? This circling of the wagons is how complainants get crushed. Also, if the next one accused does not get a glowing letter, does that mean his colleagues think he is guilty? Bad bad strategy all the way around.

[IluvPitties]

7. So we need to assume a man is guilty as soon as an accusation appears?

[MaryMagdaline]

9. I'm not assuming any such thing.

[treestar]

15. That is what it is starting to seem like

Accusation alone will do it. Not a good development. It allows anyone to be brought down so long as there is someone willing to make the accusation.

[IluvPitties]

17. It will make it so easy to smear people...

[mythology]

8. This

Even a guy like Bill Cosby didn't drug and rape every woman he ever met. This is short sighted. What happens if/when more women come forward?

It's not believe women when they accuse somebody we don't like. It's believe women.

[IluvPitties]

10. Is it believe accusers all the time?

[treestar]

16. That makes no sense; we can't have

guilty until proven innocent. And the more famous the man is, the more likely someone has an agenda. You have to look into the facts, not just assume.

[IluvPitties]

20. Agreed. Look at Aziz Ansari.

A bad date became national news because it did not meet the expectation of the lady involved. Maybe he is a jerk, but that didn't deserve to be national discussion.

[MaryMagdaline]

23. Who is assuming anything and who isn't looking to the facts?

The signers of that letter suggest that they know Tom Brokaw better than the complainant. Don't ever suggest that.

What I take from that letter is that Tom Brokaw was very often good. That does not mean he wasn't a bad guy to the complainant.

[treestar]

37. People can give an overall impression

that they wouldn't do such a thing as that, and that it would be very out of character. Why would we be more likely to believe it if it is lobbed at Donald? Because of his character.

[MaryMagdaline]

40. True.

[LisaL]

18. It's a free country and you can't deny them the right to say what they want to say.

[LenaBaby61]

44. It's a free country and you can't deny them the right to say what they want to say.

I'd agree with that sentiment normally.

But there are people out there who do lie and who do make things up for revenge. A boy cousin (37) was the victim of a false accusation by a 17 year old female student & her parents in the mid-1970's. He was put on administrative leave, and wasn't paid for almost 2 months while the accusation was being investigated by the school/police. Luckily it didn't ruin his life/teaching career, but it could have had his accusers sister not come forward with the truth after her sister admitted to her that she made the whole thing up. The young woman was not charged and she nor her parents ever gave my cousin an apology. Her sister wrote a letter of apology to my cousin for her sister/her parents.

[treestar]

21. It does make it somewhat less likely

If capable of respecting female co-workers. You'd expect harassment to come from shallow types who would not respect women as co-workers and equals.

[smirkymonkey]

11. For some reason, I tend to believe Tom Brokaw in this case.

This is another Al Franken type smear job. I just don't believe it this time.

[IluvPitties]

12. After Hannity is caught red handed in controversy

All of a sudden, Joy Reid and Tom Brokaw are attacked. Coincidence?

[smirkymonkey]

13. I think not.

It's suddenly "Smear the liberals" week, and they are going after our most powerful, influential voices. This is no coincidence.

[workinclasszero]

19. Hannity's Russian/GOP trolls

riding to the rescue.

Distract, divide, conquer.

[Ilsa]

24. Good observation. I don't put it past the RW or Russian trolls

to crank up crap about anyone, even for distraction, if not to tear down powerful progressive voices.

[wryter2000]

32. Generally, when I hear an accusation

I wait to hear if there are others. Usually, if a man does this sort of thing, he does it with lots (no, not all) of women. The word gets around so lots of people are aware of it.

Franken's follow up accusations were pretty ludicrous. (He groped me at the state fair in front of a camera and my husband.) A true hit job. This could be another one. We have to stop doing their work for them.

[Sneederbunk]

14. I firmly believe that Brokaw did not move on Maddow or Mitchell.

[MaryMagdaline]

26. Exactly. I say this without snark.

How can any woman say how a man treats another woman not herself?

[rusty fender]

36. +1

Exactly!

[librechik]

22. FYI, Tom Brokaw is NOT a liberal but Reagan Repub trapped in a journalist's persona.

Whatever the complaint,Brokaw is not being targeted because he's a liberal. And the other famous types like Lauer and Rose, also Repubs. It's a different thing entirely. IMO

[DonViejo]

25. Have some links to info supporting your assertions about Brokaw, Lauer and Rose? eom

[librechik]

38. I said IMO--not going to defend that

[DonViejo]

39. Ah, okay. Sorry, I missed the "IMO," caught the "FYI" eom

[JI7]

46. Rose leans left, not a republican.

[PatrickforO]

27. Very interesting.

What I'm noticing here is a pattern.

Al Franken was accused by a right-wing person who later recanted. He was railroaded out of the Senate, and we lost a powerful voice.

Joy Reid has spoken truth to power for decades and she was singled out for dubious attacks a decade ago against gay people. Whoops! She is still on the air and has owned and apologized.

Now Tom Brokaw, who has been a very powerful voice against the Trump administration. Whoops! Now he's tainted...a sexual harasser.

You know, if it turns out he did it, and it was egregious, then yes, he can be disgraced. But, hey, before that, let's ask a couple of questions: When did it happen? How many times did it happen? How serious was it?

Because while I can absolutely see how angry women are at the bullshit that has happened to them from time out of mind, the cornerstone of our culture is still DUE PROCESS. We aren't guilty until we prove ourselves innocent; we are innocent until the accusers prove us guilty.

To taint Tom Brokaw because he is being accused by one woman of harassment during the 1990s - a woman who worked for Fox News and may well have strong right-wing leanings - smacks of the same smeary shit that ended up losing us Al Franken.

[PoliticAverse]

31. "accused by one woman" - actually there are 2 women...

Linda Vester:
http://variety.com/2018/tv/news/tom-brokaw-sexual-harassment-nbc-news-correspondent-1202789627/

And "an unnamed former NBC News production assistant":
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/nbc-news-faces-skepticism-in-remedying-in-house-sexual-harassment/2018/04/26/7fa8a666-4979-11e8-8b5a-3b1697adcc2a_story.html

[MaryMagdaline]

30. Al Franken was a loss. Brokaw is a Neo-con

I don't know if he did anything wrong with respect to his co-worker but I know that he and others fucked our country and the Iraqi people for decades to come. All to keep their cushy corporate jobs and their access to power.

I am not sure how the RW sees him as a representative of the left.

[wryter2000]

33. They see anyone who doesn't kowtow to their god Trump as a lefty

They're not dealing with reality

[MaryMagdaline]

34. True. But let's not waste amunition on someone who is not our friend.

[LenaBaby61]

47. I am not sure how the RW sees him as a representative of the left.

I checked in at some right-winged sites early this morning (Yeah, I went to the dark side 🤮 ), and many tRumpers are really trying to make Brokaw out as this wild-eyed, left-winged shill over @ MSNBC Yeah, like MSNBC is left-winged

And a while ago, a friend got into it on twitter with some cons who KEPT saying that Brokaw's a Shillary/Obummer/Reverend Wright Liberal. Yeah, she said that's how they described Brokaw to her She said that she interacted with them through 2 back and fourth tweets, then ended up blocking them because their final tweets were bordering on stalking/harassment.

[JI7]

41. Women who had worked with Al Franken did the same thing

Too bad they were ignored.

[DFW]

45. I've heard allegations that the Easter Bunny is as promiscuous as a rabbit

Because of this, Republicans want to be fiscally responsible and cancel the White House Easter Egg roll.

How much longer are we going to fall for this routine? I hope Al Franken's Democratic tormentors in the Senate are finally seeing the pattern. I hope they have figured out that they got taken for a ride, and that the next one to be pushed off into a ditch could be any one of them.