Nate Boulten (file photo)
The Des Moines Register reports that an ethics complaint has been filed against State Senator Nate Boulton, accusing Boulton of inappropriately groping a woman in a bar.
Sharon Wegner, a 34-year-old attorney from Des Moines, says Boulton repeatedly grabbed her buttocks on the evening of November 20, 2015. Wegner’s account, along with accusations from two other women, were published in The Des Moines Register this spring. Boulton ended his campaign for governor within hours of the article’s publication, but has not resigned from the legislature.
Boulton has been state senator since January of 2017 and it’s unclear whether Senate Ethics Rules would apply to the alleged conduct that happened more than a year before he was sworn into office.
Wegner, the woman who filed the Ethics complaint against Boulton, told The Des Moines Register she did so because no other action had been taken to force Boulton to resign. Boulton issued a public apology this spring, but has said he does not recall the incidents as they were described by the women.