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The saga of Katie Brennan ended with a settlement in her personal lawsuit against the state of New Jersey, the Murphy for Governor organization and her alleged assaulter. The matter settled for $ 1 million. No one admitted liability. The state paid $800,000 and Murphy for Governor's insurer kicked in $200,000. The state also paid $20,000 to the mediator.

Add to that $530,000 the state paid to a law firm to prepare a report commissioned by Governor Murphy to investigate the handling of the hiring and vetting practices of his transition office.

Plus there is $400,000 the state paid to lawyers representing the legislative oversight committee investigation.

Then there is $650,000 paid to another law firm to represent the Murphy administration at the hearing of the legislative panel.

Tally it up. According to public records, the taxpayers of New Jersey paid $ 2,400,000.

Brennan claimed that Albert J. Alvarez had raped her after a campaign event in April 2017. Alvarez insisted the encounter had been consensual and two prosecutor offices refused to bring charges. Brennan insisted that when she reported her claim of sexual assault, no appropriate investigation was undertaken and that Alvarez was not only hired by the Murphy administration to a high level position, but received a substantial pay increase without a full investigation. As a result of the brouhaha, the Senate and General Assembly passed a concurrent resolution in October 2018 establishing a special committee to review the policies and procedures for dealing with an allegation of sexual assault in the area of public employment. The conclusions of the report were highly critical of the investigation or the lack thereof, record keeping, hiring practices, and the failure to follow existing protocols: "While the lack of contemporaneous notes is itself an issue that needs to be addressed, perhaps of greater concern is that this lack of documentation seems to be the result of either a shocking lack of recognition of the seriousness of the allegation or a desire not to have a factual record of the precise details of what transpired." According to the report, Murphy should have been informed. The report did not find existing laws or policies inadequate, but rather there was not only a failure to follow policies and misunderstanding of those policies, but "an apparent lack of urgency in addressing Brennan's concerns and a lack of common sense." Recommendations of the report included making transition employees essentially public employees with access to Equal Employment Opportunity rules and enhanced vetting of transition employees.

The settlement represents a vindication for Brennan. The Waterfront Project, a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to assisting needy Hudson County residents with pro bono representation will receive $600,000 and the balance of $400,000 will go towards the complaint's legal fees. Brennan is not scheduled to receive any portion of the remuneration. Her avowed goal was to help survivors. Remedial provisions of the settlement include "survivor-centric" policy reforms including requiring the Division of Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action in the Civil Serve Commission to allow an adviser or support person to accompany an alleged victim of discrimination, harassment or retaliation to the interview by a division investigator. Brennan is also authorized to make a presentation to the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner Council, part of the Attorney General's office. Alvarez never admitted liability but agreed, as part of the settlement, to attend an anti-sexual harassment class. Both Brennan and Alvarez will participate in a restorative justice process aimed to allow Brennan to explain her pain and Alvarez to express his concern.

After media frenzy, a legislative inquiry, analysis by a gubernatorial panel, and a lawsuit, we are pleased to see this matter conclude for the complainant, the alleged perpetrator, the many witnesses, and for survivors in general who will benefit from this resolution.

We regret, however, that the taxpayers of New Jersey have to pay for this alleged assault by a campaign worker of a candidate for governor against another campaign worker of a candidate for governor. We are disappointed that the taxpayers of New Jersey have to pay $2.4 million for the failure to properly investigate, keep records, and follow protocol by both the transition team and the Governor's Office.

Editorial Board Chairman Rosemary Alito, Vice Chairmen Barry Evenchick and James Hirschhorn, and Board members Joseph Buckley, Joseph Hayden, Justin Walder, Virginia Long and Michael Stein recused from this editorial.