“For months Marty Nothstein has hidden the fact that he is under investigation for very serious allegations of sexual misconduct, and he owes the people of Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District answers,” said DCCC Spokesperson Amanda Sherman.
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Lehigh Valley velodrome board put Pennsylvania congressional candidate Marty Nothstein on leave after sexual misconduct allegation | The Morning Call
By Nicole Radzievich, Steve Esack and Tom Shortell
August 17, 2018
Congressional candidate Marty Nothstein was placed on unpaid leave from his decade-long post as executive director of the Lehigh Valley velodrome in February after its board was notified he was the subject of a sexual misconduct investigation, The Morning Call has learned.
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The alleged misconduct may have occurred at the Valley Preferred Cycling Center in Trexlertown, according to a February email to the board from Andy Ralston, then board president, that was recently reviewed by reporters.
The velodrome, run by a nonprofit, is owned by Lehigh County and receives taxpayer money for maintenance costs as part of a public park.
The probe, as well as the board’s vote, have not been previously reported and come after a three-month investigation by The Morning Call.
The newspaper could not determine what the complaint alleges, whether the investigation is open or if Nothstein has been cleared of wrongdoing.
Nothstein, who has been a county commissioner since 2016 and is now the chairman, is seeking an open seat in Pennsylvania’s 7th District during a competitive midterm election that could factor into whether Democrats can flip control of the House.
More than 35 velodrome board members, track personnel and cyclists ignored or declined to respond to repeated questions by Morning Call reporters about Nothstein, U.S. track racing’s most decorated athlete and a rising political star.
Some cited legal constraints, others cited fairness to Nothstein, some said they feared retaliation.
A source with direct knowledge said Nothstein’s being placed on leave came within days of the board receiving the email indicating he was under investigation for alleged misconduct by the U.S. Center for SafeSport, an independent wing of the congressionally sanctioned U.S. Olympic Committee.
SafeSport has “exclusive authority” to conduct internal investigations of “actual or suspected sexual misconduct” and underlying problems related to sexual misconduct at 47 Olympic-sanctioned sports programs no matter how old the claim may be. It was created in 2014 following mounting abuse complaints and public pressure.
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Velodrome board members, a SafeSport spokesman and an official from USA Cycling, the national governing body of road and track racing, declined repeated requests for information about the probe’s status.
Jonathan Whiteman, a USA Cycling risk protection manager who fields abuse claims, said his office received the complaint about Nothstein on Oct. 30. That was 11 days after Nothstein publicly announced his bid for Congress.
Whiteman forwarded it to SafeSport on Nov. 1. Before referring it, Whiteman said he gathered “enough specificity to allege a policy has been violated,” as is required.
“What I can confirm is USA Cycling received an allegation involving Marty Nothstein that included sexual misconduct,” Whiteman said in a May phone interview. “When USA Cycling receives an allegation of sexual misconduct, we are not making any determination of validity before reporting it to the U.S. Center for SafeSport.”
The Morning Call has talked to at least two people who were contacted by SafeSport this year as part of the investigation.
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Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin said Upper Macungie Township police in February were notified by a sports organization about an allegation of “sexual harassment” at the velodrome when a reporter questioned whether he had investigated Nothstein. Martin did not specify the complaint involved Nothstein. Martin said police determined the allegation to be “meritless” under Pennsylvania criminal law.
Nothstein said the local authorities interviewed two women who were also questioned by SafeSport and found the complaint baseless.
The Morning Call could not independently determine whether the allegation is the same complaint that SafeSport is investigating.
In February, then velodrome board President Ralston emailed its members, informing them he had been notified that SafeSport had an investigation of Nothstein in an alleged incident that occurred 18 years ago, around 2000. His email offered no details.
Ralston called a board meeting days after the email, at the velodrome, 1151 Mosser Road, to consider what was described in the email as a suspension, the source with direct knowledge said. All board members voted to place Nothstein on leave, the source said. At some point, the source said, the decision was made it would be unpaid.
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Neither the nonprofit’s board nor Nothstein publicly announced his departure from the velodrome or the reasons behind it even as the nonprofit labored to get the track ready for its opening season.
In an April 27 email to Lehigh County Executive Phillips Armstrong, county General Services Director Richard D. Molchany said that he’d heard “the velodrome is down to one employee, and the season is starting in another month.”
“I know Marty is committed to his congressional race, but this is why his board has been challenging him,” Molchany said in the email obtained by The Morning Call under the state’s Right-to-Know law. “He earns $125k for that job and I’m sure his board is expecting more.”
Two weeks before the May 15 primary election, Nothstein would only say he was campaigning full time when repeatedly questioned by a reporter about his employment status at the velodrome. Board members declined to comment or did not return requests for a comment this spring.
When reporters showed up on his doorstep May 22, board member Zack Grice said, “I can imagine why you are here.”
When questioned about Nothstein’s status at the velodrome, Grice said Nothstein was on leave and would not elaborate.
Armstrong in May said he did not know who was running the velodrome, but believed Nothstein was campaigning full time.
Nothstein and velodrome officials publicly ended their relationship this month. That’s when the velodrome started to advertise on its website a job listing for executive director. Nothstein said Thursday he received no financial settlement from the velodrome.
Grice, the board member helping with the job search, declined in August to talk about whether the SafeSport probe was a factor in Nothstein leaving.
“I won’t comment on that,” Grice said in an Aug. 2 phone interview. “At this point, our focus is putting in new leadership in place to guide our future.”
Nothstein had been the public face of the velodrome for three decades, first as an elite rider known as the “Blade” and then an employee.
The facility was founded in 1975 by the late Olympian Robert Rodale, of Rodale Press. Four years later, Lehigh County commissioners adopted an ordinance allowing the county to take ownership of the velodrome and appoint its own commission to run its day-to-day operations and handle partial maintenance.
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The board promoted Nothstein to the top management post and established a “professional development plan” to aid in his success.
The plan, reviewed by The Morning Call, listed as Nothstein’s strengths: “head of state, understanding and passion for the sport, love of the area/venue, knows everyone in the sport, knows the media in the area, fundraising in the valley.”
It also listed his perceived weaknesses: “ego, desire to bridge/relationships, goal setting, medium/long term plan development, listening skills, leadership with the board, utilizing resources around him, delegation.”
Between 2008 and 2016, the Velodrome Fund board had between eight and 15 members, IRS records show. Employment, contracts and legal decisions were handled exclusively by the board’s executive committee, which constituted about five members, said Everette Carr, a retiree who served on the board from 2014-2017 as an appointee of then Lehigh County Executive Tom Muller.
“I did attend monthly [executive committee] meetings, but anytime they were dealing with personnel I had to leave the room,” Carr said. “I didn’t agree with it.”
The full board, he added, never got to vote on the executive board’s decisions.
“So much does go on behind the scenes; the average director has no knowledge,” Carr added.
Ralston’s February email went to the entire board, not just the executive board, and action was taken but not publicized.
Republican Dean Browning, who lost the GOP nomination to Nothstein by 318 votes, said recently he hadn’t known about Nothstein’s being placed on leave.
County Republicans do not officially vet the backgrounds of candidates, Browning said. But during a spring meeting of the Lehigh County GOP, Nothstein, was asked if he had any skeletons in his closet and he replied no, Browning said.
“If I was in his situation if an allegation came up, I would take it upon myself to explain to voters whether any of it is true or not,” Browning said.
Nothstein said Thursday that he believed there was nothing to tell because SafeSport hadn’t contacted him and local law enforcement wasn’t involved.
Nothstein faces Democrat Susan Wild and Libertarian Tim Silfies in the Nov. 6 general election. The 7th District includes Lehigh, Northampton and parts of southern Monroe County.
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