Democratic congresswoman comes under fire for delayed firing of chief of staff accused of abuse

Democratic Rep. Elizabeth Esty (Conn.)
(Image credit: Zach Gibson/Getty Images)

Democratic Rep. Elizabeth Esty (Conn.) is facing scrutiny over her handling of abuse allegations made against her former chief of staff. In a series of interviews this week, Esty acknowledged paying a severance to Tony Baker, her former chief of staff, after another one of her staff members accused him of verbal and physical abuse.

Baker was not dismissed until three months after Esty learned of the allegations from the young female staffer, whom The Washington Post identified as Anna Kain. Kain reportedly informed Esty of a threatening voicemail she'd received from Baker, whom she had previously dated, in which he purportedly said, "You better f--king reply to me, or I will f--king kill you."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More
Kimberly Alters

Kimberly Alters is the news editor at TheWeek.com. She is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.