{"id":3530,"date":"2026-07-01T22:42:05","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T22:42:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3530"},"modified":"2026-07-01T22:42:05","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T22:42:05","slug":"borenstein-a-bay-area-mayor-sexually-harassed-city-hall-workers-for-one-it-triggered-something-even-darker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3530","title":{"rendered":"Borenstein: A Bay Area mayor sexually harassed City Hall workers. For one, it triggered something even darker."},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n

In 1992, an investigator hired by the city of Concord found that .<\/p>\n

The story had been front-page news for months. Campbell maintained his innocence, and tried to cast doubts about his accusers because they had not publicly identified themselves.<\/p>\n

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That was too much for six victims. They had endured an arm around the waist; touching of a thigh, bottom or breast; comments about personal dress; and racial stereotypes.<\/p>\n

. \u201cI have a name and I have a face and those things did happen,\u201d Jean Underwood, executive secretary to the city manager and City Council, told me then. \u201cIt\u2019s time for the women to come forward and say, \u2018We\u2019ve had enough.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

While it might seem that much has changed in the 3\u00bd decades since Campbell harassed women in City Hall, we still live in an era where Oakland\u2019s city manager exchanged suggestive texts about his female employees; a congressman abandoned his gubernatorial campaign after accusations of sexual assault, including rape; and the nation elected, and reelected, a president who bragged about grabbing women\u2019s genitalia.<\/p>\n

Which is why a new book by Underwood, who has since remarried and goes by Jean Wells, serves as an important reminder of the depth of the emotional harm of such behavior.<\/p>\n

In Wells\u2019 case, the trauma Campbell inflicted on her triggered memories of something even darker. In her struggle to recover from the sexual harassment, she sought therapy that forced her to acknowledge and confront sexual abuse by her father when she was a child \u2014 and her mother\u2019s refusal to acknowledge it.<\/p>\n

Wells book, \u201cNo Longer Silent: Finding My Voice After Sexual Abuse,\u201d describes her dysfunctional family, her struggles to confront her parents, her determination to break the generational cycle of abuse and the role the Campbell scandal played in her finding her voice on the road to recovery.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

It\u2019s a story of confronting power imbalance in childhood and addressing similar disparity in the workplace.<\/p>\n

Fear of retaliation<\/strong><\/h4>\n

It\u2019s not surprising that, after news of Campbell\u2019s behavior first broke, it took weeks of conversations before .<\/p>\n

Nor that, after the \u2014 involving interviews with approximately 56 people about 52 allegations \u2014 found 31 allegations to be credible, victims were still reluctant to be identified.<\/p>\n

Wells and other women in Concord City Hall legitimately feared retaliation. Campbell had threatened to sue at least five individuals for the way they handled the sexual harassment charges against him, according to the investigator\u2019s report.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Only after Campbell complained that the women were hiding behind anonymity did six of them agree to speak publicly \u2014 and only after I assured each that others had agreed to be named, too.<\/p>\n

It marked a turning point for Wells.<\/p>\n

As she was growing up, she had learned that survival depended on suppressing her feelings. She recounts in her book a family fight at the dinner table in which she started to confront her father but her mother \u201cpicked up her fork and threw it at me.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt hit the table next to my plate and then fell to the ground. My mouth closed, and I never uttered another word. I learned that staying silent was the safest way to exist in the family, and I wanted to survive another night.\u201d<\/p>\n

But, in adulthood, facing Campbell\u2019s behavior, she could not stay silent. \u201cHow could I experience and witness such inappropriate behavior and not speak up? I\u2019d done that before, and it hadn\u2019t served me well. \u2026 I somehow needed to gain more courage to do the right thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

After speaking to me, Wells did the same before the City Council the following week. \u201cI hope Byron will retire from public office and let the healing process begin in the city of Concord,\u201d she said. .<\/p>\n

But Campbell refused. And because he was an elected official, he couldn\u2019t be fired. All the council could do was pass a resolution restricting his time in City Hall, which limited his interactions with city staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the damage was done. My nervous system was a wreck,\u201d Wells recalls in her book. \u201cSomething was breaking inside of me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mobilizing voters<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Wells describes the ensuing migraine headaches and the decision to seek therapy, which helped her recall and confront the abuse of her childhood and cut off communication with her parents.<\/p>\n

As for Campbell, Wells writes, \u201cI hoped and prayed that Byron would see the handwriting on the wall and would decide not to run again. But, in the back of my mind, I knew if he did run, he could make my life a living hell, and it might even cost me my job.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 1993, Campbell sought reelection. In his candidate statement, \u201cThe outrageous allegations were untrue,\u201d he told voters.<\/p>\n

Wells and some of the other women who had been harassed helped counter Campbell\u2019s narrative and rally the campaign against him. Canvassing neighborhoods, at each door, Wells would tell her story of the harassment the women in City Hall endured.<\/p>\n

Campbell had been the top vote-getter when he was first elected in 1989. But, seeking a second term, in a field of nine candidates for three City Council seats, Campbell finished next to last. He never held elective office again. He died in 2023 at age 85.<\/p>\n

Before she retired, Wells went on to become director of human resources for the Contra Costa County Office of Education. She remained estranged from her parents for most of the rest of their lives.<\/p>\n

The account in her new book is short and engaging, with a cautionary message every public official should heed about the pain of sexual harassment. The story is 34 years old but, sadly, still very relevant.<\/p>\n

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Daniel Borenstein is editor-at-large for the opinion section.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While it seems much has changed since Concord\u2019s Byron Campbell mistreated women, there are too many similar cases today<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3529,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"yoast_head":"\nBorenstein: A Bay Area mayor sexually harassed City Hall workers. 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