A toxic culture exists in N.J. politics, campaigns, experts say. This lessons aims to prevent harassment.

Three out of four people who are targeted with unwelcome sexual remarks or physical contact at work never file a sexual harassment complaint, according to experts who have studied the issue. Maybe they doubt they will be believed, or they would rather not get someone in trouble.

They “convince themselves it’s just part of the culture,” employment lawyer Beth Zoller of Livingston said.

For people who work on a political campaign or have a job in New Jersey politics, the YWCA of Northern New Jersey and New Jersey State Bar Association Foundation have created a video tutorial to let everyone to know that “toxic culture” is not acceptable. The video, made with the help of some of the state’s most prominent women in politics, will be sent to every campaign and political body that can be located, beginning in June.

“Creating Safe Workplaces in N.J. Politics” is a 48-minute video featuring detailed descriptions from Zoller and other experts of what sexual harassment and discrimination look like and how to understand and use state and federal laws. The video was previewed for the media Thursday in recognition that April is sexual assault awareness month.

“We know that without compliance at all levels there is no hope to change that toxic culture statewide,” said Helen Archontou, the YWCA chapter’s CEO.

Collaborators like retired Democratic Sen. Loretta Weinberg of Bergen County said she wants to do far more than share an informative video. Weinberg sponsored legislation that passed the Senate but died in the Assembly last year that would have created the Office on Discrimination and Harassment Prevention inside the state’s nonpartisan Election Law Enforcement Commission, which oversees campaign finance and lobbying laws.

The three-person office — the first of its kind in the nation — would investigate claims of sexual harassment and sexual misconduct. It would also develop an anti-sexual harassment policy that campaigns would be required to adopt.

The legislation emerged from the Workgroup on Harassment, Sexual Assault and Misogyny in New Jersey Politics Weinberg created after NJ Advance Media published a 2019 report on NJ.com and in The Star-Ledger and its affiliated newspapers detailing widespread and unreported sexual assault, misconduct and harassment in New Jersey politics.

Weinberg said she has lobbied behind the scenes with Assembly members to reach a compromise and move the legislation forward. The bill, A1248, has been referred to the Assembly State Government Committee but has not been scheduled for a hearing. So far, “I have received no feedback,” Weinberg said. Promoting the video might drum up “some grass roots support” for the bill, she said.

“One thing I have learned throughout my public life is we can come up with a solution for a specific problem and come up with a law,” Weinberg said. “But it takes constant surveillance and accountability and nurturing to develop the culture we want.”

The tutorial also explains the importance of colleagues becoming “better bystanders” when they see a colleague enduring harassment, said Kirsten S. Branigan, an employment law attorney who also volunteered to appear in the video.

“It is critically important friends and colleagues speak up for them…and not say that’s not my problem,” Branigan said in the video.

The video is merely “a starting-off point” for campaign managers and other political leaders, Branigan said. “it is not meant to take the place off interactive training.”

The ultimate goal, she added, is to build on the momentum of the “#metoo movement and enact stronger laws, such as the one Weinberg described. “Hopefully this focuses the attention back on the legislative radar.”

Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver, who co-chaired Weinberg’s workgroup, appeared in the video to deliver a message, to “continue to work together to force this much-needed shift within NJ political workplace and beyond…We know we have the strength among us collectively to change the culture.”

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NJ Advance Media Staff Writer Kelly Heyboer contributed to this report.

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Susan K. Livio may be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @SusanKLivio.