Teen candidate admitted to revenge porn. Why are Wyandotte County Democrats neutral?
Surprisingly and outrageously, Wyandotte County Democrats are officially not taking a position on the candidacy of Kansas House District 37 nominee Aaron Coleman — despite his admitted abusive behavior toward women, which includes employing revenge porn against a girl in middle school.
Really? The party is remaining neutral on blackmail, revenge porn and verbal abuse that drove one victim to a suicide attempt?
Jacques M. Barber, chairman of the Wyandotte County Democratic Central Committee, acknowledges that Mr. Coleman’s behavior “is inconsistent with party values and code of conduct.” Yet he tells The Star Editorial Board that if Mr. Coleman wins in November, “then the people will have made their choice, and the matter will be in the hands of the Legislature.”
Sorry, not good enough. This pass-the-buck sing-song is just offensive. Shrugging off such substantial harm to girls and women as “the people’s choice” would be a reprehensible copout anytime, but it’s certainly more so in the shadow of the #MeToo movement.
Barber strangely says he’s only heard from one party member and one member of the public who opposed Coleman’s internationally infamous candidacy. But former precinct leader Faith Rivera says she can name five county Democratic activists who have raised objections to Coleman, and says the county party’s executive committee even asked Barber in vain to take a stance on Coleman.
Noting that Gov. Laura Kelly, U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids and groups such as the Democratic Socialists of America have denounced Coleman, Rivera asks, “Why are they standing up, and our county is not? That’s the problem.”
Rivera says she’s spoken with two of Coleman’s victims about the local party’s lack of support for them: “They were so confused. They said, ‘But we thought the party wasn’t participating with him. We thought they were shunning him.’ That hit them harder, to hear that their community is not standing up for them.”
The 19-year-old Coleman’s Aug. 4 primary defeat of longtime incumbent state Rep. Stan Frownfelter has clearly widened an existing fissure in the county party. Frownfelter is running against Coleman as a write-in candidate. Frownfelter’s campaign manager, Brandie Armstrong, is also secretary of the county party — yet in a Sept. 16 email, Wyandotte County Young Democrats chair Christian Ramirez complains that Armstrong has been side-stepped by county chair Barber. Armstrong and at least one other officer have been excluded from executive meetings called by Barber, Rivera says.
“This is not a dictatorship,” Ramirez complains in his Sept. 16 email to party functionaries.
Barber’s response to the Ramirez email was to open the crevice wider, calling for a special election of new party officers “as quickly as possible.”
Three precinct committee leaders have bowed out of the party, including Rivera. One of the other two would not agree to be interviewed on the record but confirmed having bowed out, citing a lack of inclusion in communiqués and meetings, as well as the last straw: the Coleman situation.
Rivera doesn’t believe Barber’s claims of neutrality, and suggests he is helping Coleman behind the scenes. Regardless, even true neutrality would be an insult — particularly to the women Coleman has abused.
Why is the county party taking a pass on this race? Perhaps it’s to ensure the House seat stays in Democratic hands. Republican Kristina Smith, after all, is mounting a write-in campaign of her own, and if Coleman and Frownfelter split the Democratic vote, Smith could pull off a GOP upset in the heavily Democratic county.
Would avoiding such a loss be worth the cost of hitching the Democrats’ wagon to such a fatally flawed candidate as Aaron Coleman?
See “Pyrrhic victory”: “a victory that inflicts such a devastating toll on the victor that it is tantamount to defeat.”