Scandal lights up the Marijuana Policy Project

While Cheech and Chong were the main attraction at the 15th annual Marijuana Policy Project gala Wednesday, the real buzz in the room was over the slew of employees who have resigned since summer.

Seven of the organization's 38 employees left because of what four former employees described as inappropriate behavior by Executive Director Robert Kampia after an office happy hour on Aug. 6.

According to the former director of membership, Salem Pearce, and three other former employees, Kampia left Union Pub that evening with his former assistant, who still worked for MPP but had moved over to another department.

What happened next is in dispute, but Kampia acknowledged in an e-mail to staff that it was something involving him that he regretted, and that it caused staff defections.

"I'm very sorry -- both personally and professionally -- that they're leaving MPP. Their decisions are due to something that happened outside the office a few days ago involving me," Kampia said, according to an e-mail obtained by The Examiner.

One of the former employees who immediately resigned spoke to Yeas & Nays on condition of anonymity. "It was so egregious that I, and a number of other employees, that even in the most generous telling of the story, made it impossible to work for Rob," the ex-employee said.

Department heads at the organization unanimously asked Kampia to resign but their request was rebuffed with word from Kampia that Chairman Peter Lewis would no longer fund the organization without Kampia as the head, according to Pearce and a former employee at her level.

Kampia was asked to take sensitivity classes, according to former MPP workers, and a formal sexual harassment policy was adopted.

Yeas & Nays has not heard back from MPP or Kampia for comment.