Former lawmaker Jen Gross names herself as person who filed 2018 harassment claim against Windy Boy

Former Montana state Sen. Jen Gross said she was the person who lodged a harassment complaint that began a 2018 investigation into Sen. Jonathan Windy Boy. 

Writing in a public post on Substack, Gross publicly revealed her identity for the first time, saying she was speaking up because Windy Boy — who suspended and then unsuspended his campaign for Congress following new allegations of sexual abuse made public by the Democratic Party — had referred to the previous investigation as “rumors and slanderous allegations.”

“It was not a rumor. It was an investigation. And the findings were substantiated,” Gross wrote.

Gross wrote about harassment allegations she made that were substantiated in 2018. Last month, Democratic Party Chairwoman Shannon O’Brien said the party recently learned of separate allegations of sexual abuse stemming from 2002.

Gross said that she was alerted by Legislative Services in April that the media, which included the Daily Montanan, had requested copies of the 2018 harassment complaint report that had been reported on by the Associated Press at the time. 

The report, which is heavily redacted, followed an investigation into inappropriate text messages Windy Boy had sent to Gross. 

According to Gross, she had emailed Windy Boy telling him the messages were inappropriate and needed to stop, he then issued a written apology, and the matter was referred to Legislative Services. 

“Their attorneys retained an outside investigator …  (he) interviewed me, interviewed Windy Boy, reviewed the full text-message exchange, reviewed the email I sent him, reviewed his written apology, and interviewed at least one additional witness. The investigation was completed in March 2018. The findings were substantiated,” Gross wrote.

She focused her post on that last word — that the findings were substantiated, and not simply allegations. 

“Substantiated does not mean rumored,” Gross wrote. “It does not mean alleged. It does not mean whispered about in hallways at the Capitol. It means a sanctioned legislative investigation found that the conduct occurred as reported.”

When the harassment investigation against Windy Boy was reported by the AP, he called it “vilification” and a smear campaign. 

Gross said she decided to come forward as the person in the complaint after Windy Boy unsuspended his campaign for Congress. 

“When the man at the center of a Legislative Services investigation calls that record ‘rumors,’ and when he does it while running for federal office, the silence of the person who filed the complaint becomes its own kind of statement,” Gross wrote. 

Windy Boy did not respond to calls or emails requesting comment. 

In a statement, Senate President Matt Regier, R-Kalispell, thanked Gross for “coming forward and publicly identifying herself to help hold Sen. Windy Boy accountable for his yearslong pattern of sexual harassment. He needs to resign.”

Democratic Party Chairwoman Shannon O’Brien announced in April that Windy Boy, a Democratic lawmaker from Box Elder, was dropping out of the race. Her statement said that the party had had learned of “serious sexual abuse” allegations against Windy Boy. 

Helena attorney Brian Miller, who is also running for Congress as a Democrat against Windy Boy in the primary election, told the Daily Montanan he had learned of the allegations against Windy Boy and been in contact with a Pennsylvania woman who said Windy Boy sent sexually explicit photos to her underage daughter in 2002. 

Miller began representing the victim and her mother after Windy Boy dropped out. 

Windy Boy had originally cited his health and grief over losing family members as the reason he suspended his campaign, but made no mention of that in his announcement that he was “moving forward” with the campaign. 

In his announcement, he called the allegations a “political ambush.”

Prior to Gross’ allegations in 2018, the Montana Legislature did not have a well defined policy for investigating harassment in and around the Legislature. State law gives the Legislature the power to police its own members and set its own rules. In 2019, the Legislature passed an eight-page policy outlining a more comprehensive process that covers the investigative process and removal of those who violate it.