Former Washington executive Bruce Allen may soon be rethinking his membership in the Republican Party.
The GOP’s version of the House Oversight Committee report regarding an extensive investigation of the Washington Commanders takes aim at Allen, arguing at pages four and five that a properly thorough investigation of the situation would have included a “full examination” of Allen’s role in the establishment and maintenance of a hostile and toxic workplace.
Here’s the full quote from the Republican response, a copy of which PFT has obtained: “A scrupulous investigation which seeks to ‘fully understand this workplace conduct’ would have required Committee Democrats to investigate the conduct of the Team President and General Manager, Bruce Allen, because he was in leadership during the height of the alleged misconduct. Unfortunately, when Committee Democrats had the opportunity to ask Allen questions on September 6, 2022, under subpoena, they failed to address any of the racist, misogynistic, homophobic, or otherwise incredibly offensive emails sent to and from Allen’s work account. Allen’s participation in, and perpetuation of, a hostile work environment at the Team cannot be ignored. If the Committee Democrats’ investigation was indeed about the Team’s workplace misconduct, how could it ignore the conduct of one of the Team’s top executives? It again raises the bigger question, why did Committee Democrats spend such vast amounts of time, effort, and resources investigating a professional football team? Considering Committee Democrats’ failure to address obvious workplace misconduct of the Team President and General Manager, we are attaching 57 emails and documents sent outside the organization to highlight the obvious failure of Committee Democrats’ investigation to be full and complete. These emails show that under Allen’s leadership there was a toxic workplace -- one that has since been reformed based on independent third-party reviews of the team’s culture. Committee Democrats have not identified or presented any similar emails or documents identifying any racist, misogynistic, or homophobic behavior from Dan Snyder.”
Attached to the report are many emails. Several of them were leaked to the media in October 2021, resulting in the forced resignation of then-Raiders coach Jon Gruden. The emails attached to the GOP report also include Allen sending photos of naked women to Gruden and others, including Reliaquest Bowl president/CEO Jim McVay, the uncle of Rams coach Sean McVay.
The overriding objective of the Republican members of the Committee seems to be to argue that Allen was the problem, not Snyder, and that the Committee didn’t spend enough time investigating Allen, because it was focused on taking down Snyder.
In so doing, the GOP report potentially ensures that neither Allen nor Gruden will ever have a job in the NFL again.
