On Wednesday evening, St. Louis County Chief of Staff Calvin Harris resigned from his position, which he'd only held for about six months. On that same day, County Councilman Mark Harder wrote a letter explaining that he had received an anonymous video of a man and woman engaged in sexual activities, seemingly recorded somewhere in the County Executive's 9th floor office suite. The man was apparently wearing a county employee identification badge.
Now, the woman in the video Harder received has hired a lawyer, saying she did not consent to being recorded or having the video distributed.
When Harder was alerted to the video, he sent it to police. He said he's concerned with a possible abuse of power, especially since Harris was the highest ranking city official, behind County Executive Sam Page.
"That's a lot of power in this situation, especially in an office environment where you have that power over a lot of people," Harder said. WWe talk about the 'Me Too' situations around the country and that whole movement, and this could be one of those situations."
Harder says it will be up to police and prosecutors to decide if a crime was commiteed. Recording a sexual encounter, or distributing it without the other person's consent is a felony in Missouri.
Harder said it's just the latest example of what he calls "the caliber of people being hired by County Executive Sam Page."