Kansas House issues shamefully weak reprimand of abusive Democratic Rep. Aaron Coleman

Democrats in the Kansas House, your part in the half-finger-wag of a response to your newly elected member Aaron Coleman, of Kansas City, Kansas was pitiful. Coleman has admitted abusing women. And it was since his November election that he tweeted about a “hit” on Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly. So really, what were you thinking?

Because what we’re thinking is that next time you (correctly) accuse U.S. Senate Republicans of pretending that accountability just wasn’t possible for former President Donald Trump, look in the mirror and behold someone who just did exactly the same thing.

Kansas House Republicans, you are even more responsible for this unacceptable outcome. It was Republican Rep. John Barker, who chaired the committee investigating Coleman, who declined to let even one of Coleman’s victims testify at the mini-hearing on this matter. Barker said the committee shouldn’t look at any behavior before Coleman or any other member was in office, though it doesn’t have to be that way.

The committee found that 20-year-old Coleman, whose admitted history includes revenge porn, bullying and blackmail, had indeed engaged in abusive behavior toward women. This history goes as far back as middle school and allegedly went on as recently as a year ago.

Threat to ‘call a hit out’ on Gov. Laura Kelly

The Star reported in August that an ex-girlfriend, Taylor Passow, said that Coleman had slapped, choked and urged her to commit suicide in December of 2019. On New Year’s Eve, Passow said, he texted her, “Air out the clip into your head,” after having choked and slapped her in a hot tub a few days prior. “Mag dump yourself. Do that midnight tonight. If I never hear from you again then I’ll know what happened.” Coleman denied having choked and slapped her.

In June of 2020, Coleman said in a Facebook post that he would “laugh and giggle” if a former GOP lawmaker died of COVID-19. In a tweet after his election, Coleman wrote that Kelly would face an “extremely bloody” primary in two years, and said “I’m not playing around. People will realize one day when I call a hit out on you it’s real.”

When this led some of us to conclude that he wasn’t playing around, Coleman said in an interview that OK, maybe “hit” wasn’t the best word choice. But then, he added, “Really, at this point, nobody can really stop me.” So it would seem.

Instead of the expulsion from the Legislature that his behavior fully warranted, the disciplinary process ended Thursday in a not very scary “warning and admonition” letter. It included the wee recommendation that he find a mentor.

The bipartisan commission of three Democrats and three Republicans voted 6-0 to let him off with a letter, when they could have recommended expulsion. To have ousted him would then have required the votes of 2/3 of the House.

The letter Coleman is probably laughing about right now accused him of a “longstanding history of physically and emotionally abusive behavior.” That’s been well documented.

But staff “revisors” — legislative attorneys — said that because this behavior occurred before he was elected, no serious sanction was possible. Since the House sets its own disciplinary rules, it either needs new lawyers, new rules, or both, because this response to Coleman’s quite recent actions is both cowardly and dangerous.

It’s not even technically correct, since Coleman threatened the governor after his election.

Just a letter, not a formal reprimand

Good for state Reps. Susan Ruiz and Cindy Neighbors, both Shawnee Democrats, who refused to sign the weaker-than-weak-tea letter.

“It’s not very strongly worded at all,” Ruiz said. “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.”

But the letter, which all members of the investigating committee decided on instead of a formal reprimand — because oh, too harsh? — was released a full month after lawmakers began writing it.

Why it took a month to write, “Shape up, OK?” we’ll never know.

Democratic Leader Tom Sawyer said he was frustrated by the whole process, which should have led to Coleman’s expulsion: “It was clear from the beginning the Republicans didn’t want to do anything. We’ve said all along he’s not fit for office.” Not only that, but “when I talk to him individually, he shows no remorse. He blames his victims and says they’re all lying.”

He said Democrats on the committee felt that if they didn’t go along with the Republican insistence on recommending no punishment more serious than sending Coleman a sternly-worded letter, then nothing at all would be done.

A letter was better than nothing, they reasoned. Then, once they’d agreed to that, the letter actually given to Coleman was even meeker than the one to which they’d agreed.

Moral of that story: Going along with the wrong answer often results in even less than the little you bargained for.

Rep. John Barker, who chaired the committee, pushed back on the idea that Democrats had no choice but to go along: “After much public discussion and debate the committee voted unanimously to pursue this course of action,” he said in an email. “Each member of the committee is responsible for their own vote. Allegations to the contrary are revisionist history.”

Democratic state Sen. Cindy Holscher, who spoke out about the threat Coleman posed long before his election, said that what she’s heard over and over from her Democratic former House colleagues is, “Who are we to judge?” and “Why does this fall on us?” after the Wyandotte County Democratic Party supported Coleman almost to the end.

“I said, ‘You’re not sending him to prison.’ They could have done more but they just chose not to,” Holscher said. “It’s disappointing. I can’t say it’s totally surprising. People are just trying to stay away from him.” Female people in particular.

The Capitol Police, she said, are very aware of the situation, and have put out the word that there will be zero tolerance for abuse.

But Kansas House Democrats, if anything does happen, it will be on you as well as on your Republican colleagues.

This story was originally published February 19, 2021 at 5:00 AM.