Paragraph 17: Esty Did Not Fire Baker. He Resigned.

U.S. Representative Elizabeth Esty (D-CT) in the end did not fire the violent chief of staff she tolerated for months after learning of his ugly treatment of female subordinates. The severance agreement between Esty and Anthony Baker states in paragraph 17 that Baker would provide Esty “with an approved letter of resignation.”

Esty’s indulgence of Baker included $5,000 in severance, a letter of recommendation and disinfecting his personnel records. These extraordinary acts of accommodation by Esty raise a question that many are raising in private, bewildering conversations. What did Baker know that caused Esty to treat the brute with  such generosity?