After the New York Times reported that Maine gubernatorial candidate and businessman Shawn Moody was accused of sexual discrimination against one of his former employees, the Maine Republican Party lashed out at the well-respected newspaper, calling it “America’s most famous fake news outlet.”
The report, published Friday morning, centers on a sexual discrimination complaint filed in 2006 with the Maine Human Rights Commission. In the complaint, Jill Hayward alleges that Moody fired her from a management position at the Moody’s Collision Center in Biddeford after she gave birth to her son.
Hayward told the Times:
[I]n November 2005 Mr. Moody visited her apartment while she was on maternity leave after having an emergency C-section. As she sat feeding a bottle to her weeks-old son, her boss explained to her that she could no longer work for him because of her duties as a mother, she said.
“My heart was in my throat or at my feet, and I’m looking at him like, ‘You’re kidding,’” said Ms. Hayward, who remembered ‘bawling’ as it became clear there was nothing she could say to keep her job.
Moody reportedly settled with Ms. Hayward for $20,000 in 2006, an agreement which he claims now prevents him from addressing Hayward’s accusations, which he did not specifically deny.
Times reporter Jonathan Martin noted that Hayward’s account was corroborated by her mother, brother, and a former colleague at the auto center.
Shortly after the article was published, the Maine GOP issued a lengthy press release lambasting the Times‘ reporting as a “desperate smear attempt.”
“This is nothing but an attempt by America’s most famous fake news outlet to attack and smear a good man and great company for partisan political gain,” declared Maine GOP Communications Director Nina McLaughlin.
An attached statement from Moody’s campaign also dismissed the report, saying the national newspaper was aiming to “interject itself” into what has become a tight contest between Moody and Democratic candidate Janet Mills. The campaign also circulated videos of Moody employees vouching for his character.
As the Times notes, the Republican candidate has staked his campaign largely on his reputation and business experience.
“I just have to rest on our track record, our reputation in the community,” Moody told the newspaper, pointing out that 25 of his 200 employees are women in what he described as a male-dominated industry.
Hayward, a single mother and recent victim of domestic violence at the time of her firing, lost her apartment and car soon after losing her job.
“How do you dispose of a single mother when that’s your claim to fame in your campaign?” she is quoted as saying in the report.
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