The Commanders’ owner has better things to do than speak to Congress
Have you heard about the new rage sweeping Washington, D. C.? It’s all about ignoring Congressional committees when members of those panels want some information from you. All the cool cats are doing just that. Like Daniel Snyder. The National Football League’s Washington Commanders franchise owner, Snyder, has told the House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Reform that he has other things to do on June 22nd and will not appear at a hearing which wants to know about the team’s “toxic” workplace. Snyder’s attorney Karen Patton wrote to the committee that “given the Committee’s refusal to accommodate my request to delay the hearing and its unwillingness to recognize Mr. Snyder’s interests in a manner consistent with fundamental fairness and due process, Mr. Snyder is unable to attend the hearing that the Committee has scheduled for June 22nd, 2022.”
It is highly unusual for a company CEO to refuse to appear before a Congressional panel. But Snyder is thumbing his nose at federal lawmakers because he apparently thinks it is unfair for him to have to answer some questions. The attorneys who are representing more than 40 former Washington Commanders employees want the committee to subpoena Snyder and get him to talk about his business’s workplace and address the allegations of workplace sexual harassment. The NFL did itself no favors when it refused to release the findings of an investigation of Daniel Snyder’s business’s workplace. The NFL fined Snyder $10 million and told him he could not run the business on a day-to-day basis and the league allowed Snyder’s wife Tanya to run the team. Snyder has been accused of sexual misconduct by Tiffani Johnston, a former team cheerleader and marketing manager. Johnston and five other former employees appeared before a Congressional roundtable to talk about their workplace experiences.
Evan Weiner’s books are available at iTunes – https://books.apple.com/us/author/evan-weiner/id595575191
Evan can be reached at evan_weiner@hotmail.com