SEATTLE _ In the years before he became president of the Seattle Mariners, Kevin Mather and two other top team executives were accused by women of inappropriate workplace conduct, resulting in the complainants receiving financial settlements, The Seattle Times has learned.
The complaints, which surfaced in 2009-10, roiled the organization internally, triggering reviews and staff-wide sexual-harassment seminars, The Times found after interviewing more than three dozen people who have worked within or around the Mariners organization. Along with Mather, who at the time was executive vice president of finance and ballpark operations, the complaints also involved then-team President Chuck Armstrong and then-Executive Vice President Bob Aylward.
The three women involved left their jobs. All three executives remained in their positions, and two were later promoted.
With the rise of the #MeToo movement, even cases that occurred years ago are receiving new attention and placing increased scrutiny on the culture of organizations and how they handle misconduct allegations.
For the Mariners, the complaints did not appear to result in any legal finding of wrongdoing by the team or the three executives.
Armstrong and Aylward declined to comment. Mather said in a brief statement that he's proud of the team's culture and the contributions women make throughout the organization.
Mariners owner and managing partner John Stanton said in an interview that women play a valuable role with the team and cited a range of important jobs they hold across the organization.
"I think our culture is represented by the way we treat people. And we work hard to do that well," said Stanton, a minority owner starting in 2000 who became managing partner in 2016. "Certainly, we're not perfect. But we think that we represent an important role within this community and the way we are perceived is not only important to our business but ... it's bringing your daughter to the ballpark. ... We want it to be a family-friendly environment."
Citing state personnel laws, Stanton declined to answer whether the team has paid settlements or disciplined any executives for misconduct this past decade. A written statement from Mariners legal counsel Fred Rivera stated that after some past misconduct violations, the team on rare occasions has "made financial compensation to employees and exacted financial compensation from employees to remedy these violations."
(On Wednesday, the Mariners issued a statement acknowledging that Mather had been the subject of two workplace complaints from female employees. The team said that it had "made amends" to the workers. Mather said he's learned from the mistakes.)
Speaking generally, Stanton said there have been instances in which people were accused of violating team protocols and the Mariners addressed such problems with an investigation. After reaching a conclusion in those cases, Stanton said, the team would potentially remedy a situation by taking action such as reprimands, financial penalties, counseling and in some cases termination.
Armstrong remained president until his retirement in January 2014. Mather was promoted to president in his place and in December 2017 the CEO title was added. Aylward, one of two finalists to succeed Armstrong, became chairman of the team's ROOT Sports Northwest regional cable network.
Mather had been overseeing the team's human-resources department before the complaints. That responsibility later was moved to Armstrong's purview and remained there until his retirement despite the subsequent complaint involving him.
In the wake of initial complaints against Mather and Aylward, the Mariners had a consultant give sexual-harassment-prevention seminars separately to senior management and rank-and-file employees, according to four people with direct knowledge of the matter.
Though it's difficult to measure the Mariners' current culture and how the organization treats women, a handful of employees said the team in recent years appeared to be making honest efforts to ensure the appropriate treatment of women in the workplace. Some women said they hadn't experienced or witnessed any harassment or inappropriate behavior.
But The Times has learned that video personnel at Safeco Field shot, compiled and archived up-close footage of two women sitting in the crowd during a Mariners game in late 2015. The footage, shot by TV cameras stationed throughout the stadium, lingered on one woman with a revealing top and on the other woman when she was briefly exposed after her dress hiked up.
The clips were compiled in a Dropbox folder titled "9-29-15 Blondes."
The Mariners said the footage was shot by freelance TV camera operators hired by ROOT Sports and/or the visiting team's television crew, and video appeared to have been taken during commercial breaks. Rivera said the footage was compiled for security purposes, but Randy Adamack, the team's special adviser to the chairman and CEO, said the camera attention on the women shouldn't have happened. He added that the team was discussing the issue internally and with ROOT Sports personnel. The Mariners are the majority owner of ROOT Sports Northwest.
