Former Wyandotte County DA loses state job after sexual harassment complaints

Former Wyandotte County District Attorney Jerome Gorman was terminated from his new job at the Kansas Department of Revenue on Tuesday after complaints that he made sexually inappropriate and racially insensitive comments at work.

The complaints, described in detail by the Topeka Capital-Journal, included allegations that Gorman commented on a job applicant’s breasts, asserted that women in law enforcement are lesbians, and claimed that Hispanic people were ruining the Catholic Church.

“The investigation into Mr. Gorman’s conduct began as soon as the first and only complaint was received by the Department of Administration in mid-December,” said Rachel Whitten, a spokeswoman for the Revenue Department. “The investigation was completed on Tuesday and as of the end of the day Tuesday, Mr. Gorman was no longer employed with the Department of Revenue.”

Gorman lasted less than a year as director of the department’s special investigations office.

Some of the behavior attributed to Gorman allegedly dated back to his time as Wyandotte County district attorney, a position he held for 11 years until losing a re-election bid.

According to the Capital-Journal, Gorman told colleagues at his new job that while in the district attorney’s office, he had enjoyed relationships with women he called “work-wives” and had, for fun, conducted job interviews with unqualified women, including a Playboy model.

Among the allegations, it was reported that Gorman told people that the current Wyandotte County district attorney, Mark Dupree, pandered to black voters when he defeated Gorman in the Democratic primary race for the office in 2016.

According to emails obtained by The Star, the investigation into Gorman’s behavior was touched off when a special agent in the Revenue Department, who was fired after complaining about Gorman, sent a letter detailing Gorman’s alleged behavior to Kansas Department of Administration officials.

This story was originally published January 10, 2018 at 5:33 PM with the headline "Former Wyandotte County DA loses state job after sexual harassment complaints."