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Meadows's former chief of staff, Kenny West, resigned after female employees accused him of inappropriate behavior, but remained on the House payroll in violation of House rules, according to an independent investigation by the House Ethics Committee. Meadows paid West $58,125 from April 2015 to August 2015 even though he was no longer working in Meadows's office. There is "substantial reason to believe that Representative Meadows retained an employee who did not perform duties commensurate with the compensation the employee received and certified that the compensation met applicable House standards, in violation of House rules and standards of conduct," the OCE report said.
In October 2014, a group of employees reported to the deputy chief of staff "they were uncomfortable with Mr. West's inappropriate behavior towards them," the OCE report said. Meadows asked the chief of staff of Representative Trey Gowdy to interview the employees, and Meadows eventually limited or prohibit West's presence in Meadows's offices, the report said.[40]
A former Meadows aide testified to the House Ethics Committee that top staff, and perhaps even Meadows himself, were made aware of West's behavior far earlier than has been publicly reported, according to the Daily Beast. West denies he sexually harassed anyone.
In November 2018 Meadows was fined over $40,000 by the House Committee on Ethics after the panel concluded he “did not do enough to address” sexual harassment allegations against West. The committee concluded Meadows took “immediate and appropriate steps” by separating West from female staffers and requesting an investigation, but noted that West retained his title and “apparent authority over staff” during this period. “Representative Meadows could have and should have done more to ensure that his congressional office was free from discrimination or the perception of discrimination,” the committee wrote in the report. The committee fined Meadows $40,625 “for Mr. West’s salary that was not commensurate with his work.” The Daily Beast previously reported that a former aide told the committee Meadows and other top staff members in his office were aware of West’s behavior before it was publicly reported.[41]
