"target of sexual harassment"

Here's some nice newspeak for ya.

Sex suit could be problem for Bloomberg
By SARA KUGLER, Associated Press writer
Sunday, July 29, 2007

NEW YORK - Mayor Michael Bloomberg speaks his mind and that is a big part of his cachet in anything-goes New York. But a sexual harassment lawsuit he settled in 2000 and other racy comments over the years show how his blunt style could prove a liability if he runs for president as an independent.

Before his election as mayor in 2001, Bloomberg was the target of a sexual harassment suit by a female executive who accused him of making repeated raunchy sexual comments while he was chief executive of his financial company, Bloomberg LP.

(emphases mine)

The story mentions that the details of the suit and full accusation are not available. Thus there is no way to confirm the assumptions inherent in this article. It bears mentioning that the details were not available to the story's author either, and yet she treats us to her apparent implicit assumption that the charge was unwarranted. And to the (presumably shared) conclusion that having had cause to settle a sexual harassment suit is evidence of being a person who tends to "speak his mind".

I tend to speak my mind too. But so far, no one's accused me of sexual harassment.