BEACON HILL SEX SAGA: Alleged Victim Says ‘This Is An Investigation To Clear Stan Rosenberg’s Name’

Printed from: https://newbostonpost.com/2018/01/22/beacon-hill-sex-saga-alleged-victim-says-this-is-an-investigation-to-clear-stan-rosenbergs-name/

BOSTON — A report focusing on the reluctance of male victims to speak to investigators handling the sexual misconduct probe centered on the estranged civil-law husband of a powerful Beacon Hill lawmaker due to confidentiality concerns has prompted one unnamed alleged victim to make a startling claim.

“There’s no way I would come forward,” the unnamed man told Boston Globe columnist Yvonne Abraham. “This is an investigation to clear Stan Rosenberg’s name. It’s not an investigation to find out the truth.”

The alleged victim’s comments appeared in Abraham’s most recent column regarding Rosenberg, the Amherst Democrat who elected to step down from his Senate president post after an earlier report by Abraham outlined a pattern of alleged sexual misconduct apparently carried out by Rosenberg’s cicil-law husband, Bryon Hefner.

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The alleged victims, all male, claim that the 30-year-old Hefner used the legislative clout and influence of Rosenberg, 68, in making unwanted sexual advances which were purportedly physical at times. The men were all professionally connected to Beacon Hill. Abraham has written that at least one of the alleged victims is a Senate aide.

Last week a WGBH report, relying on Senate staffers who spoke under condition of anonymity, revealed that potential victims are weighing whether or not to speak to outside investigators. The victims point to the fact that independent investigators with Hogan Lovells law firm are apparently working under orders to provide the Senate Ethics Committee with their identities should they be subpoenaed to testify.

According to Abraham’s follow-up, only one of the four men who made sexual assault allegations against Hefner has spoken to investigators. The alleged victims Abraham spoke to have expressed concerns that the Senate is actively seeking to distance Rosenberg’s influence from Hefner’s actions, regardless of what information might be gleaned by investigators with the Hogan Lovells law firm.

After the Hefner allegations surfaced, Rosenberg during a brief press conference announced that Hefner would be checking himself into a rehab program to deal with issues of alcoholism and maintained that Hefner’s alleged actions did not affect Senate legislative matters.

Since then, Rosenberg, following a brief leave of absence, has resumed working in the Senate but had to trade in his spacious presidential suite for a basement office typically assigned to rank-and-file members. State Senator Harriette Chandler now wields the president’s gavel after being named acting president.

Earlier this month the Globe reported that Rosenberg’s numerous allies in the Senate are actively laying out a “path for potential return to power.”