From proudly discriminatory policies to vulgar statements about women, the similarities between former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg and President Donald Trump appear to grow with each passing day of the billionaire software mogul’s campaign for president. Why should the use of ironclad nondisclosure agreements, a cherished tool of the rich, powerful, and unscrupulous, be any different?
As it turns out, Bloomberg uses them not only in his business but also in his campaign, according to The Nation magazine. The campaign agreement restricts anyone who signs it from making “any disparaging or defamatory comments” about organization members (current or former) “during the Employment Period, and at all times thereafter." That’s forever.
Wanting to protect the inner workings of a campaign isn't unforgivable, but advocates told The Nation that Bloomberg's nine-page nondisclosure agreement takes it several steps too far. Jordan Libowitz, a spokesperson for the government accountability group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said the nondisparagement clause referenced above is similar to one the Trump campaign used in 2016. “That can have a chilling effect on people reporting abuses and speaking publicly about things like sexual harassment,” Libowitz said.
Billionaire politicians like Trump and Bloomberg aren't the only powerful men quite cozy with muzzling employees. Fox News host Bill O’Reilly required two women who accused him of sexual harassment to turn over audio recordings, diaries, and other evidence and keep the strictest of confidence regarding details of their settlements with him, according to The New York Times. “Confidentiality and arbitration were two critical terms for which Mr. O’Reilly bargained in good faith,” O'Reilly's attorney Fredric Newman told the Times.
NBC's Chief White House correspondent, Hallie Jackson, a moderator of Wednesday night’s Democratic debate, mentioned former employees claiming Bloomberg’s company was a "hostile workplace for women." "When you were confronted about it, you admitted making sexually suggestive remarks, saying, quote, 'That's the way I grew up,'" Jackson said to Bloomberg. She also referenced a Washington Post article about a lawsuit Bloomberg faced in the 1990s, in which a former female employee alleged that Bloomberg had said, "I would do you in a second.” "Should Democrats expect better from their nominee?" Jackson asked.
She failed to get a direct answer, and instead got a rambling rant about the scores of women he employs and a pivot to how he doesn't tolerate "the kind of behavior that the #MeToo movement has exposed." When Sen. Elizabeth Warren was looped into the discussion, she wasted no time translating Bloomberg’s answer. "I hope you heard his defense,” she said. “I've been nice to some women."
The Massachusetts senator also called Bloomberg out on his use of nondisclosure agreements in his business. She asked him to release female employees from the binding agreements "so we can hear their side of the story." "We have a very few nondisclosure agreements," Bloomberg said. Warren tried to interject with a follow-up question, requesting the exact number of the agreements, but her question went ignored. "Let me finish. None of them accuse me of doing anything other than maybe they didn't like a joke I told," Bloomberg said. "And let me just point, and let me point. These (are) agreements between two parties that wanted to keep it quiet, and that's up to them. They sign those agreements, and we'll live with it."
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