Gov. Ferguson knew of concerns about top aide years ago, audio confirms

Catch up quick: Webb resigned as Ferguson's chief strategy officer in March, amid claims he created a hostile work environment for some women in the office.

• Webb — who previously served as Ferguson's chief of staff when Ferguson was Washington's attorney general — defended his conduct but said the claims had "created an unhelpful distraction."

The latest: In Friday's meeting, Ferguson and his current chief of staff, Shane Esquibel, said state auditors reached out in 2019 to give Webb a chance to respond to allegations that surfaced during a fraud audit of a nonprofit.

• Webb was not the subject of the audit. But auditors encountered reports that he had pressured or intimidated two women— information auditors later shared with the FBI.
• Auditors relayed their concerns to Esquibel, who was then Ferguson's chief deputy in the attorney general's office, according to their work papers and an agency spokesperson.

What they're saying: "Obviously, I worked with Shane back then on that," Ferguson told staff in the governor's office Friday.

• "We talked about it at some length — what's the best way to approach it? And we felt that was the right way to handle it at that time," Ferguson said after describing how Esquibel consulted the human resources director in the attorney general's office.
• Those conversations didn't result in a formal or informal human resources complaint about Webb, per the governor's office.

The recording of the meeting — which was also reported on by The Seattle Times — was shared with Axios by a third party who wasn't there. A person who was present reviewed the audio and said it was authentic.

• That person asked not to be named in this story, citing the discussion's sensitive nature.

Flashback: One report that surfaced during the 2019 audit was about Webb's allegedly having a sexual encounter with one of the nonprofit's employees — something Webb denies.

• According to FBI notes, the nonprofit employee said the sexual encounter was consensual but she "did feel some pressure" from Webb, whose role in the attorney general's office gave him "some responsibility for approving payments" to her employer. (The employee declined to speak to Axios for this story.)
• Separately, a former colleague of Webb's said he called her in 2019 to ask what she told the audit team — and warned her that her name would be shared with the media. She told auditors the call felt intimidating, per state and FBI records.
• In a written response to auditors, Webb said he called the woman to "get her perspective."

Zoom in: Esquibel told staff Friday that auditors were "really clear" that they didn't see any issues with the alleged sexual encounter between Webb and the nonprofit employee.

• That was partly because the woman described it as consensual and didn't want to report it, Esquibel said.
• Esquibel added that Webb had "no decision-making authority" over the nonprofit's state grant at the time — though oversight formally shifted to the AG's office a few months later, with Webb listed as a point of contact.
• Ferguson cited "the length of time" since the 2013 incident and "the woman seemingly not wanting to" come forward as factors he and Esquibel discussed when deciding how to respond.

The other side: The State Auditor's Office disputed Esquibel's account of their 2019 conversation.

• "We were concerned by what we had heard," Adam Wilson, a spokesperson for the auditor's office, wrote in an email to Axios this week.
• The auditors' meeting with Esquibel was "evidence of us taking the issue seriously," Wilson added.

Ferguson's office did not make him available for an interview this week.

• By email, Ferguson's spokesperson, Brionna Aho, didn't directly answer a question from Axios about whether Ferguson personally had concerns about Webb's alleged conduct. She wrote she generally does "not comment on private conversations between staff."
• "The HR director's assessment was that, based on the description provided, if the incident happened, it was consensual and took place six years previously and before the grant was with the Attorney General's Office," Aho said.

Between the lines: In the meeting recording, neither Esquibel nor Ferguson addressed the phone call Webb made to his former colleague, a call she described as intimidating.

• They also did not discuss a memo reported on by Axios that talks about the alleged 2013 encounter with the nonprofit employee. In the memo, the nonprofit's board president warned of "significant potential for additional unwanted sexual advances, propositions and contact" from Webb.
• The governor's office and the attorney general's office have maintained that none of their staff saw that memo, which was dated in 2015, the same year Webb began to directly manage the nonprofit's grant.
• Webb told Axios last week that the memo was inaccurate and "extraordinarily inflammatory."

Yes, but: Ferguson did respond to staff questions Friday about Webb continuing to advise him on campaign matters.

• One staffer raised concerns about Webb flying with the governor on a State Patrol-operated airplane last month, saying this arrangement forced staff to interact with Webb after his resignation.
• Ferguson apologized for having Webb accompany him on the flight, calling it a "pretty stupid decision," per the meeting recording.
• "Obviously, that's not going to happen again," Ferguson said.