Ohio lawmaker wooed state staffer for months, report says

The sexual harassment allegations lodged in Ohio against former Republican state Sen. Cliff Hite mirror other claims that have come forward against powerful men since the New York Times’s Oct. 5 investigation documenting sexual harassment allegations against Hollywood movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.

Hite, 63, allegedly attempted to use his convertible to woo a female employee of the Legislative Service Commission to be his companion for sex and oral sex, according to the eight-page report documenting the woman’s complaint against him.

After she refused a ride in the car, Hite showed up the next day with two bouquets of flowers and a note tucked into one of them that said, in part, “Oh, and if you like my convertible you’ll like me too.”

In other messages he told her he couldn’t stop thinking about her and needed a companion for sex and oral sex, according to the commission report.

“You have no idea how much I can please you,” he wrote, according to the commission report.

Hite resigned on Oct. 17, shortly after the woman filed her complaint.

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