An investigation into the conduct of state Rep. Michelle Caldier of the 26th legislative district found her in violation of House policies with regard to abusive behavior and bullying.

The Republican lawmaker whose district includes Bremerton and Port Orchard has been in office since 2015 and was reelected in 2022, but a recently released report sent to the chief clerk of the House of Representatives came to the conclusion that her behaviors constituted a violation of legislative conduct rules.

Sheryl Willert of the law firm Williams Kastner wrote, “Representative Caldier demonstrates a pattern of behavior in which she lashes out at people, makes public statements that have the impact of demeaning and embarrassing individuals and is generally disrespectful.”

Caldier is appealing the findings, which also addressed her claims that the House had failed to accommodate her disability of declining eyesight.

That allegation raised by Caldier was found to be “wholly unsubstantiated” in the report, which instead suggests the allegation was either an effort to deflect attention away from her own conduct or suggests that her disability caused her to act out.

“The undersigned was able to confirm all accommodations provided and several instances where Representative Caldier provided false information during her interviews,” Willert wrote in a footnote. “Regardless, even if accommodations had not been provided it does not provide permission for Representative Caldier’s behavior.”

The 87-page report, 35 pages of findings and the remaining pages containing exhibits and documentation begins with an incident at the Spokane Airport on Nov. 18, 2022, that jump-started the investigation a month later. During that time, Caldier’s access to staff was restricted that December, according to an email included in the report. The documents also include Caldier’s apparent removal from a leadership role as a ranking member of the caucus.

According to interviews conducted with the individual who communicated with Caldier and another witness, the representative was in the bathroom at the airport and doing something with her makeup. She had come to the airport following the conclusion of a meeting of the Republican Caucus. The person identified in the report as Individual 1 greeted Caldier and greeted her again when a response was not given. Caldier asked who was there, to which Individual 1 responded. Caldier was then reported to have called Individual 1 “a horrible person” and followed with “we are done.” There were documented witnesses, including one who escorted Individual 1 onto the airplane to prevent further contact with Caldier.

Caldier said she was “startled” by the person and alleged she knew what the person was saying behind her back. ”Representative Caldier further stated she didn’t know if the person came to the bathroom to speak with her or needed to use the bathroom,” the report says. “She also stated, ‘Everyone knows that I can’t see so why come and speak to me.’”

Over a dozen people were interviewed, many of whom questioned the conduct of Caldier throughout her service. One had observed Caldier publicly berate an employee of the state, another reported the lawmaker had gone through 10 legislative assistants in her eight years of service up to that point, and her overall conduct was described in a range of not “overall positive” to “intolerant and controlling.”

Caldier responded to the high turnover rate of her legislative assistants, saying that some had left to work with others that had more closely aligned political views with their own, while others were not qualified.

Caldier also reportedly said that “she knew this process would be weaponized and that no matter how this matter turned out, there would be a headline.”

The report was dated Oct. 12, 2023, but was just recently acquired by the Kitsap Daily News.