Florida Financial Regulation Commissioner Ronald Rubin was fired in the past weeks for sexual harassment. The Florida Cabinet fired him after the release of a report that declared he had misused his public office and sexually harassed women.
It was, sexual harassment and ill-advised, let’s make no mistake about that. Rubin said things he shouldn’t have said, but this scandal also smacks of politics. Rubin was waging a public battle with Florida’s Chief Financial Officer, Jimmy Patronis. Patronis charged him with sexual harassment and Rubin countered with the CFO’s corruption.
Idiotic Statements
Ronald Rubin was Florida’s chief financial regulator, a position of authority for overseeing every aspect of the financial services industry including the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation. We are often impressed with men and women of such status without understanding that is what they do, not who they are.
When the report was released by the Office of Financial Regulation’s IG accusations against Ronald Rubin, the man included how he detailed the sexual history of a family member to female co-workers, the statements made about his parents’ fertility and if one of his employees allowed their dog to watch them having sex. There were also complaints made as to him lightly disparaging gays and Muslims and making subordinates help him run personal errands.
The issue, according to Rubin’s lawyer, is that nothing Rubin said was remotely comparable to #MeToo sexual harassment.
Rubin’s lawyer further felt that Rubin might have been given a censure instead of a firing. As Rubin uncovered alleged corruption in the CFO’s office including a pay-to-play contracting scheme, that he should have been given “whistleblower” status.
No dice. The governor, Ron DeSantis and Attorney General Ashley Moody joined the CFO (Patronis) dismissing Rubin and they promptly launched a search for a replacement.
The governor said “The bottom line is, I think there was clearly poor conduct and below the standards that we should expect.”
Lasted Just Months
Ronald Rubin was only hired in February 2019 and he was removed in May 2019. Rubin maintains that the #MeToo movement was being used on him as a political tool. His interpretation of sexual harassment was physical touching or worse. His attorney is quoted as saying, “Just because someone feels uncomfortable, just because someone even doesn’t like their supervisor, doesn’t mean that Ron Rubin gets fired, publicly humiliated and his reputation destroyed forever…This [firing] is not about standing up for Me Too. Me Too deserves real respect. Every woman in this room, every woman in Florida and in the workplace knows should never be weaponized for political purposes.”
Rubin maintains that a once cordial relationship with the CFO soured when Rubin refused to hire a job applicant the CFO favored and that the allegations of sexual allegations only surfaced after Rubin started accusing the CFO of corruption.
The first reaction I have is in the form of a question. Did Ronald Rubin ever have to undergo sexual harassment training? Or was that conversation haphazardly covered in general ethics training?
Anyone who has had sexual harassment training would understand that asking an employee, male or female, about their sexual behaviors does constitute sexual harassment. In this day and age, to be so clueless about that issue, deserves censure. Was his need to talk to employees in that manner borne out of power or prurience? In the end it makes little difference. The #MeToo movement well realizes it is all a slippery slope – and quite dangerous as was his disparagement of gays and Muslims.
If, as Rubin suggests, the CFO has been involved in pay-to-play schemes, he needed to be extremely cautious when reporting such behavior on a confidential basis. However, you cannot rationalize your own sexual harassment on a quid-pro-quo basis. They are separate behaviors and perhaps he thought he could cover his abuses of staff by having something to hold over the head of the CFO. It doesn’t work that way.
We are all held to our own standard of ethical action, not a relative standard. Sexual harassment training might have helped him understand that.
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