The Cooke Political Report rates the congressional race in Florida's 13th District between Air Force Veteran and Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R) and former Army General Leela Gray (D) as "Likely Republican," but it could become a more competitive contest given the current state of the U.S. economy.

While both Rep. Luna and Mrs. Gray address the ongoing affordability issue that is gripping the nation, could Gray's campaign get sidetracked by a recently discovered 2015 Army Inspector General (IG) complaint that was filed against her in 2015?

The anonymous Inspector General complaint appears to have caused her 2015 Brigadier General confirmation to be pushed back or temporarily suspended in the U.S. Senate

In the complaint, Gray is referred to as " a toxic leader who causes a toxic work environment," who is "disrespectful to her subordinates," and who "destroys their careers."

The Sourcing

The Floridian first found out about the complaint from a source who spoke to us on the condition of anonymity about the complaint. The source, whom we will call him or her as "Major," said that Gray was investigated for running a "hostile" and "toxic work environment" and alleged that she tried to have several subordinates fired or removed from their positions.

Another source, who will be referred to as "Colonel," did not want to speak to us about the matter, but his or her spouse did. The spouse echoed the Major's remarks that Gray ran a "toxic" office, adding that there were several others soldiers and officers who were afraid to come forward for fear of retribution.

In the report, the names of the soldiers have been redacted for privacy reasons. In total, some 48 officers and soldiers came forward to testify against Gray's confirmation.

"This complaint was submitted in 2015, anonymously, because everyone was terrified of her crushing their career. It was substantiated by the Army Reserve IG and then looked into by the Department of the Army IG. 48 Army officers and NCOs came in person to several IG sessions to testify against her. Many flew in from overseas and cancelled leave to be there. Every single testimony of her behavior as a leader during her commands (at least one of which she was kicked out of), were awful," another source stated in an email communication.

According to this source, Gray had to wait for a year for the investigation to conclude for her nomination to move forward. Additionally, it is alleged that the IG recommended a "downgrade and immediate discharge," but that recommendation appeared to have been overruled and disregarded. Gray, whose nomination was offered during President Barack Obama's second term in office, was eventually confirmed.

In the complaint, Gray is referred to as " a toxic leader who causes a toxic work environment" who is "disrespectful to her subordinates" and "destroys their careers.

Question: Have you made the Commander aware of your issue? (answer mandatory if applicable)

The commander is the issue and she has been approached on numerous occasions regarding the toxic work environment and constant disrespect to her subordinates on a daily basis. Colonel Leela Gray, Division Chief for Legislative Affairs Division, Office of the Chief of Army Reserve (OCAR), is a toxic leader who causes a toxic work environment. She is not only disrespectful to her subordinates, but destroys their careers, and constantly talks behind their backs. Having no legislative affairs experience herself, she forces her subordinates to work extensively, while herself being out of the office, and takes all credit for all accomplishments while firing and forcing out subordinates for her failures. The OCAR legislative affairs team works to accomplish its mission in spite of her leadership rather than as a cohesive unit.

Examples listed in the complaint:

(1) COL Gray forced a retiring NCO, SFC , to work extensive hours over a period of months, for unnecessary missions up to the day of his retirement allowing him virtually no time for retirement processing, ACAP, and other necessary duties; forcing him to come in over the holidays and weekends to complete his retirement paperwork.

(2) She hired and fired several O-3 to O-5 officers,forcing some of them to leave on their own, detrimenting their careers, for no cause except that she did not get along with them because of her toxic personality. Officers included LTC , LTC and CPT .

(3) Other officers left on their own to other jobs to avoid the toxic environment, including COL , CPT , and COL .

(4) Several officers were not allowed or threatened not to be allowed to complete professional education (PME) and for those that did, their OERs/evaluations suffered as a result, including CPT , CPT , and MAJ . Even for officers who COL Gray allowed to attend PME, COL Gray did not allow them to attend until as close as the day prior to the TDY course start date and for other officers, COL Gray pulled them from courses 1-2 days before the start date, imposing hardship on the soldiers and their families.

(5) COL Gray consistently speaks badly of officers and soldiers in her division behind their backs and disparaged her section chiefs, LTC

(6) Most recently, COL Gray’s toxic leadership and work environment caused serious mental anguish to a mature and highly educated NCO, SFC , PhD.

(7) On several occasions, COL Gray attempted to hire personnel who were unqualified for the position, but were her friends.

(8) Because, COL Gray does not allow members of her team to interface with the higher command without her direct intervention and presence, higher command is kept insulated from the toxicity of her leadership.

Rep. Luna recently sent Gray a cease-and-desist letter over a donation allegation that was made against her.

Neither Rep. Luna nor Mrs. Gray was available for comment.