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Los Angeles-area Congressman Brad Sherman says none of his staff ever complained about longtime aide and California Assemblyman Matt Dababneh, who’s been accused of sexual harassment while working in the congressman’s district office.

Eight former aides said the environment in Sherman’s D.C. and California offices was so toxic, it was laughable to think junior staff would have felt comfortable raising concerns about harassment – or anything else.

“Congressman Sherman showed zero interest in the personal well-being of his staffers and there’s no reason to believe he would have cared or taken any action if a complaint was made,” said one former staffer.

Dababneh, who is resigning from the Assembly in the wake of several allegations against him, including sexual assault, was known to be one of Sherman’s closest and most trusted employees. While no one suggested the 11-term congressman was aware of Dababneh’s alleged conduct, three former staffers doubted he would have responded well to criticism of his onetime district director.

Among aides, Dababneh was known to date a lot of women, according to Lauren Attard, Sherman’s former legislative counsel. Another former aide says she remembered “being shocked with the way [Dababneh] spoke.” While she couldn’t recall the specifics of what he said, the aide said “he made me feel uncomfortable and I still remember it.” (Read more from “Democrat’s Staff Say They Feared Reporting Harassment” HERE)

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The cost of living in Southern California dodged a bullet on Tuesday when Los Angeles voters rejected ballot measure “S.”

The measure would have made it much more difficult to build any new housing in America’s second-largest city.

Zoning laws and building restrictions rarely make national headlines, but they impose a substantial barrier to new investment, and new investment has been the missing link in the slow-growth economy of the 2010s.

Housing in California is already so expensive that tens of thousands of low-income residents leave the state annually for cheaper climes.

Heritage Foundation research on the costs of local land use regulation estimated that average Angelenos would save $94 a month on rent if the city adopted less restrictive housing regulations. Instead, they were tempted to go in the opposite direction.

The “Yes on S” campaign, which favored extreme restrictions on new construction, used the motto “Save our Neighborhoods.” Strangely, the campaign received most of its financial support from the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. Labor unions and property developers opposed the measure.

Given the persistently high demand for living in sunny L.A., restricting supply in that way would have raised prices substantially.

The neighborhoods might have been “saved” in the sense that they would look cosmetically similar, but the restriction of supply would have pushed prices up rapidly in previously working-class neighborhoods. Low-income renters and retirees would be priced out.

San Francisco has already gone down the anti-building path. The result is that more than half of homes in the Bay Area now cost over $1 million.

Tokyo, by contrast, has shown how to maintain affordability, even in a big city. By maintaining strong individual property rights, Tokyo’s policymakers have kept housing costs basically constant despite strong demand.

The defeat of Measure S is also good news for wages and job creation. Without new investment, jobs cannot be created nor wages increased.

Since half of business investment is in buildings—those factories and offices need to go somewhere, after all—Measure S would have made it more difficult to create jobs in L.A.

Free marketers and affordability advocates worked together to defeat Measure S. Perhaps they can go further next time and roll back some of the restrictions that have made L.A. so expensive in the last 30 years. (For more from the author of “Los Angeles Voters Right to Reject Anti-Housing Ballot Measure” please click HERE)

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