The PSOE received this week on its internal anti-harassment channel at least one complaint against the president of the Lugo Provincial Council, José Tomé, of the PSOE, as socialist sources confirm to EL PAÍS. As the program reveals Code 10 From Cuatro, six women filed complaints with the party through internal channels activated by the Socialist Party. The accusation against Tomé comes as the party awaits the resolution of the case against Francisco Salazar, one of Pedro Sánchez’s strong men in Ferraz and La Moncloa, against whom two complaints were filed in July. The Anti-Harassment Office did not act during these five months.
The testimonies of the television program, which indicates that some activists belong to the PSOE and others have left the party but did not reveal their identity, describe situations of sexual harassment. The president of the party in Galicia assured in the same program that he was not aware of these complaints. “I don’t know of any complaints about this,” said José Ramón Gómez Besteiro when asked if these inappropriate behaviors had been known. “I haven’t received any complaints,” Besteiro insisted.
José Tomé Roca (Guitiriz, Lugo, 67 years old) has a long trade union and political career and occupies one of the most important positions in the Galician PSOE led by José Ramón Gómez Besteiro. He started in the 80s holding positions of responsibility in the UGT and is currently president of the Provincial Council of Lugo, mayor of Monforte with an absolute majority and secretary general of the PSdeG-PSOE in this province. To the latter position, he was re-elected last spring after a close primary. He obtained 58% of the militancy vote against Iván Castro, 32, a member of his team in the Provincial Council.
Tome has been a member of the party for 40 years and has become one of the visible faces of a formation that is the third force in the Galician Parliament, although in his province the Socialists have governed the Provincial Council since 2007 and the City Hall of the capital since 1999. He is also the leader of the original territory of Besteiro, which began to emerge almost 30 years ago when, like him, he was president of the provincial body of Lugo.
Tomé worked as an agricultural technology teacher at the Monforte agricultural training school and has two children. When he resigned a few months ago Advisor of the Sea, the popular Alfonso Villares, prosecuted for sexual assault, Tomé criticized him for not giving explanations on the serious accusation which still weighs on him. “It goes without saying that we all have the presumption of innocence, but Mr. Villares should give explanations and not hide behind the fact that these are private matters. When you exercise a public function, private matters do not exist”, declared the leader of the PSOE of Lugo in statements collected by The Voice of Galicia.
No complaints of sexual harassment against Tomé have been received by the Galician PSOE, according to sources in the Galician leadership of the party, who specify that the internal protocol establishes, in any case, that they must be presented to Ferraz.
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