State Senate will probe charge of decade-old rape against Sen. Joe Fain
An investigator will be hired to examine the charge that State Sen. Joe Fain raped a woman in Washington, D.C., more than a decade ago.
The probe was announced Thursday by Senate Majority Leader Sen. Sharon Nelson, D-Maury Island, and Senate Minority Leader Sen. Mark Schoesler, R-Ritzville.
"The Senate has grappled with an appropriate response: The allegation pre-dated Sen. Fain's time in the Legislature and therefore falls outside standard procedures for an allegation of this nature," Nelson and Schoessler said in a statement.
The leaders have gone through the Senate Facilities and Operations Committee to hire the investigator.
Fain was the first to call for an investigation after the allegation surfaced last month. It has done political damage to the Republican incumbent in the 47th District of Southeast King County. Fain is 206 votes behind Democratic challenger Mona Das in vote totals announced Thursday by King County Elections.
The allegation was made by Candace Faber, 35, on the day that Dr. Christine Blasey Ford testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee that U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh had drunkenly assaulted her years before while a student at Georgetown Prep.
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