Wyandotte County official’s ‘despicable’ hand gesture prompts ethics probe
Wyandotte County commissioners are calling on ethics officials to weigh in after a fellow commissioner allegedly threw up his hands and mimed male masturbation during a recent public meeting.
Board members Mike Kane and Andrew Davis during Thursday’s regular commission meeting called on the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas’s, ethics commission to review a video showing District 6 Commissioner Philip Lopez making the lewd gesture during a July 31 public meeting.
Lopez, who is also running for the District 2 at-large commission seat in November’s election, did not return a call from The Star as of Friday morning. He had commented on a resident’s social media post that the situation had been taken out of context and that he was actually shaking his hand to reduce irritation in his wrists.
“So it’s being (taken) WAY out of context,” Lopez wrote. “This is probably because I’m running for (the) At Large seat.”
The gesture they’re referring to, which Lopez allegedly made during the commission meeting while Kane was speaking, came more than five hours into the evening. It can be used to crudely express boredom, annoyance or to signal that something is self-indulgent or lacking purpose.
The gesture has since sparked public attention and disappointment on social media, with some residents saying it’s just the latest in a series of behaviors from Lopez they find inappropriate for an elected official.
Resident Louise Lynch this week sent a clip of the video to commissioners and local media outlets asking commissioners to hold Lopez accountable.
“To utilize such disrespect time and time again is unacceptable,” Lynch wrote. “I urge each one of you commissioners to uphold the dignity of your office and not be complicit, and call in a complaint to the ethics office.”
Lynch later addressed commissioners in person during the Thursday evening meeting’s public comment portion.
“This is more than despicable,” she said. “There are families here. Children watch.” Lynch then asked the commission again to review the footage.
She noted the most recent incident adds to a litany of public actions Lopez has taken that she considers disrespectful, such as putting his feet up on the dias, not removing his hat during public meetings, using foul language and having outbursts during meetings.
Earlier this year, Lopez during another hours-long meeting made a remark many deemed offensive, and racist, at someone applying for a permit. That received notable blowback from community members and fellow commissioners.
As of Friday morning, the ethics commission had not immediately returned calls seeking comment on whether it had formally received a complaint and what the next steps would be.
“Look at the video and then we need to figure out what the next move would be if there’s any at all,” Kane said during the meeting.
