House Ethics Committee will not investigate Brady further, after use of anti-Asian slur in email

The Delaware House Ethics Committee unanimously voted to drop an ethics complaint lodged against Democratic Rep. Gerald Brady following Brady’s use of an anti-Asian slur and a joke making light of human trafficking in an email sent from his official government account. 

The committee held a closed-door meeting Friday but was silent on the executive session agenda. House Ethics Committee proceedings begin with a confidential process, barring members from even confirming a complaint has been filed until the committee completes a preliminary investigation. 

“While the member’s choice of words was reprehensible, and without condoning his expression, this incident does not rise to the level of a violation of the Rules of Legislative Conduct and no further action will be taken by this Committee,” the committee wrote in a memo sent to all members of the House on Monday.

The five-person committee includes House Speaker Pete Schwartzkopf, Majority Leader Valerie Longhurst, and Rep. Daniel Short, Minority Whip Tim Dukes and Majority Whip John Mitchell. 

FIRST REPORTED:Wilmington lawmaker uses anti-Asian slur in email sent to wrong recipient

The reaction against Brady began in July, after Delaware Online/The News Journal published a story detailing an email sent on June 27 by Brady. 

An out-of-state advocate, who said they typically send studies related to legislative policy to various lawmakers, sent Brady a study outlining the impact of adult entertainment establishments on sex crime rates in New York City police precincts. 

Brady’s reply included a racial slur against Asian women and a joke making light of sex work and human trafficking. House spokesman Drew Volturo said the email was meant to be forwarded to a friend of Brady, rather than a reply to the out-of-state advocate. 

The advocate shared the email with The News Journal. In Delaware, lawmaker emails are not available to the public. 

When asked about the email by The News Journal ahead of publication on that initial story, Brady apologized through a statement sent by a House spokesman. He later said he would not seek reelection when his term ends in 2022. 

The article sparked a wave of calls for Brady’s resignation, largely from Asian American groups and regional labor organizations. Brady has been executive director of the Delaware AFL-CIO since 2003. 

FROM LAST WEEK:House Ethics Committee heads into closed-door session, likely to discuss Brady's use of slur

Newark-area Rep. Madinah Wilson-Anton was the first lawmaker to call for Brady’s resignation, and eventually filed the ethics complaint against her fellow Democrat. 

“I do not believe it is sufficient to absolve Rep. Brady’s statements by requiring he attend ‘sensitivity training,’ nor is it fair to place a burden on the Delaware Asian-American community to engage him in an attempt to educate him,” Wilson-Anton wrote in the complaint.

She alleged that through his words, Brady violated House rules by engaging in conduct that brings the House “into disrepute” or “reflects adversely on the member’s fitness to hold legislative office.” 

“I cannot in good conscience ask the voters to put their faith in me again after I betrayed theirs,” Brady wrote when announcing he would not seek reelection.

That statement “acknowledged to the public his rhetoric reflects adversely on his fitness to hold legislative office,” Wilson-Anton argued. 

The House Committee decided not to pursue the complaint because it said Brady did not violate the law.

“The Ethics Committee unanimously determined that no laws were violated, and that Rep. Brady’s remarks are protected under the First Amendment, which guarantees the right of free speech,” Longhurst, chair of the committee, said in a statement. 

“Determining which ideas and manners of expression are beyond the pale is first and foremost the province of voters,” the committee wrote in its memo. “There is no precedent for policing the lawful expression of opinions or a member’s choice of words in what he believed to be correspondence with a private citizen.”

To reach its decision, the committee examined legal precedents in Delaware, the U.S. House of Representatives, and other state legislatures. 

In the committee's legal analysis, House attorneys point out how there is little precedent in Delaware regarding disciplining lawmakers for speech outside of legislative proceedings. 

“Reprimands and punitive measures taken against elected officials are extremely rare, and have been almost universally for breaking the law, sexual misconduct, or misusing the elected office for personal gain,” Longhurst said in a statement. “None of those cases involved an elected official’s speech in private communications.”

The last House Ethics investigation occurred in 2007, when then-Rep. John Atkins was investigated for a DUI traffic stop and domestic violence. 

"The course of conduct on the part of Rep. Atkins clearly differs in kind and severity from the allegation brought against Rep. Brady," House attorneys wrote. 

"The argument that because there is no precedent for holding members accountable for their behavior and how it reflects on the body the committee could take no action is embarrassing to me as a member of the House of Representatives, and should be embarrassing to all members," Wilson-Anton said. 

In the days after Brady’s emails were made public, House leadership announced he would have to take part in sensitivity training and reach out to the Asian-American community to rebuild trust. 

Brady’s training was a day-long session conducted in-person, a House spokesman said. Members of Asian-American community organizations report that Brady did not contact them until after they sent letters to all lawmakers and the governor calling for his resignation.

Representatives of the newly formed organization Delaware Asian American Voice said they were "disgusted but not surprised" by the committee's decision. 

"Rep. Brady's email was not private," member Yushu Fu said. "It was used in an official capacity. If using a resource funded by taxpayer dollars to promote racism and sexism does not violate our state's ethic's rules, what does?"

The decision sends the message that the dignity and safety of the Asian American community in Delaware does not matter to lawmakers, she said. 

"They have also sent a very clear message to House members. 'Do not bother filing an ethics complaint. We will not take it,'" Fu said. 

Brady also issued a statement on Monday, and said he has kept up contact with the instructor of his sensitivity training to better incorporate those lessons into his life. 

"While the Ethics Committee concluded that this situation didn't constitute a violation, it does not mean that my words weren't wrong," Brady said in a statement on Monday. "Free speech is crucial to democracy, but so is the duty to use it wisely and to take responsibility when you do not." 

Brady said even though he is not seeking reelection, he still hopes to turn the situation into a learning experience and to elevate the concerns of the Asian-American community. 

Last week, an attorney representing Brady submitted a letter to House attorneys claiming that "out of state organizations are seeking to make prostitution legal in Delaware" and were trying to "cancel" Brady for not supporting the issue. 

"Many locally have been duped by these outsiders," wrote lawyer Thomas Neuberger, claiming that the "pretext" used to attack Brady has been his "unguarded, free speech protected, and private email to a friend." 

Neuberger no longer represents Brady, the lawmaker said Monday. 

"After reading the letter, I was sickened by the attempt to deflect or paint me as the victim of some sort of coordinated effort," Brady said in a statement. "It demeans people who very rightly were hurt by the racist and sexist slurs I used, and it diminishes the seriousness of the situation." 

Wilson-Anton said in a statement that House members were told the committee did not take Neuberger's letter into consideration. But like the committee's legal analysis, Neuberger's letter focused on the attack on Brady's First Amendment rights. 

Wilson-Anton said that moving forward, she intends to address the lack of transparency surrounding the ethics complaint process. 

Contact Natalia Alamdari at nalamdari@delawareonline.com.