Nearly seven years after resigning due to an office misconduct scandal, Arizona Republican Trent Franks is running for Congress again, bringing the allegations against him back into the forefront — both for him as a candidate and his accusers, who thought they could move on with their lives.
One of those accusers is Melissa Richmond, now an operative at Running Start, an organization that helps women run for office. In a 2017 Washington Post column, Richmond alleged that in 2010, Franks rescinded an internship offer after she refused to go to his house late on a Sunday night for a “final one-on-one interview” after the then-congressman had made it clear his family was not home.
Franks declined to comment and referred NOTUS to his former chief of staff, Randy Kutz, who said he had met Richmond once but never formally offered an internship.
“I never offered Melissa Richmond an internship in Mr. Franks’ office, and as the D.C. chief of staff, no internship would have been offered to her by anyone in our office without my having approved. As such, there was never an internship offered, so no internship could have been rescinded,” he told NOTUS in an interview.
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Richmond said she thought the incident was behind her, until Franks decided he wanted to run for his old seat again.
“I was surprised because someone, who from my perspective removed themselves from Congress based on what happened with me and then things with other staffers in his office, would hope that the public’s forgotten so quickly and would run again,” Richmond said. “I don’t think there is a place for men at work to make advances towards women that could be conceived as sexual advances or offers.”
Richmond first came forward with her story in the Post after Franks resigned from office amid a House investigation into “credible allegations” that he’d asked two female staff members to be a surrogate to bear his child. Franks admitted to discussing surrogacy with “two previous female subordinates” but denied having ever “physically intimidated, coerced, or had, or attempted to have, any sexual contact with any member of my congressional staff.”
Now, he’s running for his old seat in Arizona’s 8th Congressional District in a crowded Republican primary field. It’s one of the most conservative districts in the state. The winner of the Republican primary on July 30 will likely go on to serve in the House of Representatives.
In an April primary debate, Franks said that he had reconciled with one of the staffers. Richmond, however, said she hadn’t spoken with him.
“If he has had a change of heart, it didn’t include me,” Richmond said.
Richmond said she is concerned how Franks may conduct himself in Congress if elected.
As she recounted in The Washington Post, Richmond said she first met Franks in a parking garage, where she helped him jump-start his car after his battery died. She was in law school and looking for a summer internship, which she talked about with Franks. He told her to contact him for an internship, giving his cell phone number.
After corresponding over several weeks with his office, Franks called wanting her to come over, Richmond wrote. When she declined, after consulting with her father, Franks allegedly told her he was revoking the internship.
In emails reviewed by NOTUS, Richmond discussed the internship in Franks’ office with friends, as well as with a potential employer, writing that it was postponed. She said she did not want to explain the circumstances to a possible employer.
Emails also detail Richmond’s exchanges with Kutz, Franks’ former chief of staff, who told her the “likelihood of a summer internship is slim” because most of the summer interns had already been selected.
When Franks was expected to resign, Richmond’s boyfriend at the time texted her a news article about the scandal.
She wrote back: “He’s the one who invited me over for the 10 pm ‘final interview.’”
He responded, “That’s why I sent this to you.”When Franks did resign, Richmond said her former mentor, former Congresswoman Barbara Comstock, told her that she was part of the inspiration behind legislation that stopped taxpayer dollars from settling secret suits of sexual harassment claims against members of Congress. The experience pushed her to dedicate her professional life to helping women run for office. Comstock did not respond to NOTUS’ request for comment.
“I thought I got my happy ending,” Richmond said. That feeling is now gone.
Richmond’s father told NOTUS that the former congressman’s campaign makes him uneasy.
“If I was a father of a very young woman who worked in his office, I would be nervous,” he said.
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Tara Kavaler is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.
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