LANSING, Mich. _ A state senator says she will file a new sexual harassment allegation against a state senator who is already facing investigation for recent remarks to a female Capitol reporters.
Sen. Mallory McMorrow, D-Royal Oak, told Crain's Detroit Business that Lucido, R-Shelby Township, made her feel uncomfortable and degraded during orientation for new senators at the Senate office building in Lansing, shortly after the November 2018 election.
McMorrow said she approached Lucido, who at the time was a House member newly elected to the Senate, to introduce herself, when Lucido shook her hand while using his other hand to hold her lower back, with his fingers on her hips, "effectively upper rear."
Lucido asked where she was from and who she ran against and McMorrow said she was from Royal Oak and defeated former Republican Sen. Marty Knollenberg.
"At which point he looked me up and down, raised his eyebrows and said, 'I can see why,'" McMorrow told Crain's.
McMorrow said Lucido's conduct was "really degrading and deflating," and she was shocked by it, but she said "you deal with it," and try to do your job.
Lucido denied the allegations in a Tuesday morning text message to the Free Press.
"I categorically deny this allegation which I believe is completely untrue and politically motivated," he said.
McMorrow could not immediately be reached for comment.
The Senate launched a sexual harassment investigation into Lucido's conduct Wednesday after the Michigan Advance reported on a Jan. 14 exchange between him and Advance reporter Allison Donahue outside the Senate chamber. The incident quickly drew national media attention.
Donahue tried to question Lucido, R-Shelby Township, while he was surrounded by a group of male high school students from his alma mater, De La Salle Collegiate, a Catholic high school in Warren.
"You've heard of De La Salle, right?" the Michigan Advance quoted Lucido as asking Donahue.
When Donahue said she had not, Lucido said: "It's an all-boys school," adding: "You should hang around _ you could have a lot of fun with these boys, or they could have a lot of fun with you."
The students then burst into laughter, the online publication reported.
Contacted by the Free Press, Lucido initially did not dispute the accuracy of the quotations, but said he felt they had been taken out of context and out of proportion.
Later Wednesday, he said he was misquoted.
McMorrow told Crain's she decided to speak up and file a complaint because of the incident involving Lucido and Donahue. She said she felt that if she had spoken up sooner, the incident with Donahue might not have happened.
