Discipline for Kansas lawmaker accused of abusive behavior toward women: find a mentor
The Kansas House committee investigating Rep. Aaron Coleman found that the Kansas City Democrat engaged in abusive behavior toward women, according to a short letter of reprimand from the panel.
The letter — delivered to the 20-year-old freshman lawmaker in a strange, almost ceremonial hand-off Thursday — caps a disciplinary process that could have led to his expulsion from the Legislature. It ended instead with the relative wrist-slap of a “warning and admonition” and a single recommendation: to find a mentor.
Originally planned as a “strongly worded letter” with an extensive series of recommendations — including therapy — the finished product didn’t detail the allegations against Coleman. It said only that he had been accused of a “longstanding history of physically and emotionally abusive behavior” and that the committee found sufficient evidence that the allegations were true at first appearance.
“It’s not very strongly worded at all, it doesn’t give the recommendations or expectations that we originally wanted to and according to the revisors that was sort of beyond the scope of what our assignment was,” said Rep. Susan Ruiz, a Shawnee Democrat who sat on the committee.
Ruiz and Rep. Cindy Neighbors, a Shawnee Democrat, both refused to sign the letter.
The Office of the Revisor of Statutes is the legislature’s legal office. Though it’s primary role is to draft legislation its staff also provides legal advice to lawmakers and committees.
The letter, which members of an investigating committee opted for in lieu of a formal reprimand, was released a month after lawmakers began drafting it.
Lawmakers had initially sought to finish it in 10 days, but Rep. Susan Humphries, a Wichita Republican and one of two lawmakers who drafted it, said Wednesday the process was more protracted than she anticipated and involved legislative staff.
“There were a lot of channels to go through,” Humphries said.
Coleman has been accused of hitting, choking and leaving violent messages with an ex-girlfriend. He has also suggested he wanted a former Republican lawmaker to die of COVID-19 and promised to take out a “hit” on Gov. Laura Kelly.
In the first week of the legislative session, last month, House Democrats filed a complaint against him and recommended he be removed from office because of his pattern of behavior.
Coleman declined to comment Thursday.
The uproar over Coleman came as legislators in both Congress and other states grappled with how to respond to troubling behavior by elected leaders.
In Missouri, Rep. Rick Roeber of Lee’s Summit was kicked out of the Republican caucus as his colleagues investigated allegations by his adult children that he abused them. In Washington, House members stripped Rep. Marjorie Greene Taylor of her committee assignments for spreading conspiracy theories.
In the case of Coleman, a special committee assigned to his case decided to take a mild approach after a three-hour meeting in January. Committee members voiced concerns that punishing a lawmaker for behavior prior to his entering office would set a bad precedent.
Since that meeting, Coleman, who left then rejoined the Democratic Party, has been provided an office in the Statehouse and has testified regularly at committee meetings, though he isn’t assigned to any.
After directing Coleman to work with House Minority Leader Tom Sawyer to find a mentor, the letter issued Thursday warns him that failure to comply could result in additional complaints and likely reprimand, censure or expulsion.
Sawyer, a Wichita Democrat, has said Coleman’s continued presence at the Statehouse would threaten the safety of women lawmakers and staff.
On Thursday, Sawyer reiterated those concerns and said he planned to encourage Coleman to seek counseling and anger management treatment in addition to finding a mentor.
If that doesn’t happen, Sawyer said he expects continued complaints.
“I’ve talked to him several times since session started and I don’t see a change in him,” Sawyer said. “If he doesn’t seek counseling and start seeking a change something will happen.”
Rep. Lindsay Vaughn, one of seven Democratic women who called for his resignation, said she felt grateful that Coleman’s office was not located near women colleagues and that he was not on committees. However, she said, his behavior is something that lingers in the back of her mind.
“I feel like a letter of admonishment is not going to lead to a different result. It kind of exemplifies the ‘boys will be boys’ mentality,” Vaughn said in an interview last month.
“My heart goes out to survivors who might continue to be retraumatized by him being in a position over them and them not getting the real justice that they deserved.”
Helena Buchmann, spokeswoman for Senate Minority Leader Dinah Sykes, worked with Coleman in her capacity as treasurer of Wyandotte County Young Democrats during the campaign cycle. She said safety considerations may be most relevant when interns return after the pandemic.
“I absolutely have concerns that in the future when we have interns that that will be concerning for me,” Buchmann said. “He clearly has issues with talking not just to women but people in general. He is not thoughtful in how he communicates.”
“In my interactions with him his biggest regret is that this is a stain on his reputation.”
Humphries said last month that she had not considered whether Coleman posed a personal safety risk but said she was optimistic that Coleman would comply with the requests of the letter.
“This is a bar, this is a starting point,” she said.
This story was originally published February 18, 2021 at 4:54 PM.
