Rep. Jim Jordan Is Named in New OSU Sexual Abuse Lawsuit [View all]

[Gothmog]

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On Tuesday, Jordan’s public-relations crisis became a legal nightmare. Attorneys filed a massive class-action lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Ohio against Ohio State University on behalf of an as-yet-unnamed former OSU wrestler. The law firm Sauder Schelkopf is seeking to represent all the students and athletes “treated” by Strauss in his two decades at the school, from the late ‘70s to the late ‘90s – a number they estimate will amount to “at least 1,500.”

Jordan, the jut-jawed Republican and anti-gay crusader in the House, is singled out in the suit: He’s one of only three former school officials named, including Strauss, though the action is aimed at all the coaches, administrators and others in positions of responsibility at OSU who, it claims, stood by while students and student-athletes were repeatedly “sexually abused, harassed, and molested,” and “forced” to seek treatment from a well-known predator even after they complained. (Strauss was the sole team doctor for the wrestlers; the men say they either had to choose to let injuries go untreated, as the lawsuit says some did, or subject themselves to yet another assault.) ….

Back home, where Jordan’s political future will be determined, local media are determined not to let him slide. “No more denials. Jim Jordan must acknowledge what he knew,” the Cleveland Plain Dealer editorialized this past weekend. Jordan has made it clear, though, that the truth will have to be pried out of him. (He says he is cooperating with independent investigators hired by Ohio State, though what he tells them may never become public.) If either or both of these lawsuits lands him in court, it will be.