Treasurer Dan Rutherford delivered a forceful, even believable defense of himself last week during a suburban press conference hours after he was hit with a federal lawsuit alleging sexual harassment and coerced campaign work.

Gubernatorial candidate Rutherford made a strong case that at least some of the accusations are untrue. There were some holes in his argument - some bigger than others - but it seems obvious that some of the charges are overblown.

For instance, accuser Ed Michalowski claims in his lawsuit that all the campaign and sexual pressure from Rutherford directly resulted in "leakage of cerebral spinal fluid in the brain," which seems more than a bit of a stretch. Michalowski also takes a joking text message between himself and Rutherford's campaign manager completely out of context. And Rutherford laid out Michalowski's numerous financial troubles in an attempt to demonstrate that the plaintiff's need for money was driving much of the lawsuit.

That said, I've had some real worries about Rutherford's so-called "independent" internal investigation of these allegations. Rutherford announced the investigation weeks ago when he let the media know about the potential lawsuit.