Former chief of staff sues California lawmaker over alleged sexual harassment

The former chief of staff of a California state senator who recently left the Democratic Party to become a Republican filed suit against her on Thursday, claiming she sexually harassed him, created a hostile work environment and fired him in revenge for rebuffing her sexual advances.

The lawsuit, filed in Sacramento County Superior Court, alleges that Republican state Senator Marie Alvarado-Gil was guilty of “uncontrollable, controlling and sexually dominant abuse of authority and power” toward her chief of staff, Chad Condit, throughout much of 2023.

“This was a sex-based quid pro quo relationship involving unwanted advances and sexual conduct, coupled with punishment and displays of power,” says the lawsuit, which also names the California State Senate as a defendant.

Alvarado-Gil's lawyer denied the allegations.

“A disgruntled former employee fabricated a ludicrous story without evidence in order to obtain money. We expect the senator to be acquitted of all charges related to these false, financially motivated claims,” ​​attorney Ognian Gavrilov said in a statement provided to the Times by the Senate Republican Caucus.

Alvarado-Gil was elected in 2022 as a Democrat in a heavily Republican district that spans a rural region northeast of the Central Valley. Her election was largely seen as a fluke of California's two-top-candidate primary system after the large Republican field split the GOP vote in June and cleared the way for two Democrats to advance to the general election despite receiving just 41% of the vote combined. Alvarado-Gil won in November of that year.

In August, she switched political parties and joined the Republican caucus in the state Senate after criticizing the Democratic leadership.

Condit served as Alvarado-Gil's campaign manager in 2022 and then moved to her state office as chief of staff.

The lawsuit alleges that early in her tenure, Alvarado-Gil began “harassing the plaintiff and disclosing personal and intimate details” of her life, including her love life, divorces and marital infidelity. Alvarado-Gil spoke openly about “her vices,” according to the lawsuit, “which included sex, use of the drug ayahuasca and ingestion of gummy bears.”

According to the complaint, Alvarado-Gil repeatedly made inappropriate and sexually suggestive comments to Condit and used her position to exert dominance and power over him. For example, in March 2023, Alvarado-Gil allegedly asked Condit about his opinion on “three-way relationships” and whether he and his wife would be open to one.

She also allegedly made comments suggesting he was “open to a sexual relationship with her” because his father, former U.S. Rep. Gary Condit, was accused of having an affair with Washington intern Chandra Levy. Levy disappeared in 2001, and the elder Condit was initially investigated for her disappearance, in a scandal that rocked the nation in the months before the Sept. 11 attacks. He was never officially a suspect, and another man was convicted of her murder in a case that was later dropped. Her death remains unsolved to this day.

According to the complaint, the sexually explicit comments eventually escalated into physical violence.

Once, Chad Condit alleged, during a business trip to Inyo County, Alvarado-Gil demanded that he show her his loyalty “by performing oral sex on her.” According to the lawsuit, Condit and Alvarado-Gil were traveling and stopped to use the restroom. After Condit returned to the car, “she pulled down her pants and said, 'I want you to kiss it and prove your loyalty.'”

“After months of developing a dominant-submissive relationship, the plaintiff became numb and acted without thinking. From that point on, Alvarado-Gil developed her ability to dominate him,” the lawsuit states.

Condit had sexual intercourse several times, the lawsuit says.

“On the last occasion that Plaintiff performed oral sex as requested by Alvarado-Gil, Plaintiff sustained a back injury while sitting in a car seat and having to twist and contort himself in the confined space of the car,” the lawsuit states. “Plaintiff later went to the doctor and learned that the injury was more serious and that Plaintiff had suffered three herniated disks in his back and a fractured hip.”

Condit later underwent hip surgery for his injuries.

Condit did not respond to a text message or phone call from the Times, and his lawyers could not be reached for comment. The lawsuit alleges that Condit's “personal and professional relationships have been forever altered, and his public service career and opportunities are irreparably damaged and will never be the same again.”

Condit's complaint goes beyond sexual favors and includes allegations that Alvarado-Gil used him to run errands, drive her daughter around and watch her dog.

By late summer 2023, Condit had begun distancing himself from Alvarado-Gil's alleged advances, the complaint states, which says the senator and her deputy chief of staff, a childhood friend, had approached the Secretary of the Senate “to have Plaintiff fired as punishment and retaliation.” He later received a “false disciplinary letter containing allegations of inappropriate conduct” that Alvarado-Gil allegedly directed at him.

The lawsuit also alleges that Alvarado-Gil took steps to get closer to Condit's wife and “gain a position of control” over the couple's lives. For example, she hired Condit's wife for her campaign in March 2023 and went to the same beautician. Later that summer, after Condit allegedly began to reject Alvarado-Gil's advances, the senator went to his home “and falsely told his wife that the plaintiff was meeting someone who was causing him distress.”

In December, Alvardo-Gil reportedly texted Condit that he had been fired and tried to persuade him to quit instead by offering to hire his wife.

The lawsuit also alleges that Senate Secretary Erika Contreras “blindly accepted Alvarado-Gil's retaliation against plaintiff and condoned her mistreatment of him.”

Contreras acknowledged the lawsuit in a statement but said the Senate had not yet considered it.

“We are in discussions with counsel to assess next steps,” Contreras wrote. “The Senate takes all complaints extremely seriously, but cannot comment on matters involving pending litigation.”