Incoming state Rep. Aaron Coleman said Thursday that an effort to secure a permanent protective order against him for harassment has been dismissed.
Coleman said the case brought by Brandie Armstrong, former campaign manager for outgoing Kansas City state Rep. Stan Frownfelter, is now closed.
“It is time for a return to civility,” Coleman said in direct message on Twitter.
“We are all Americans. The time for Democrats, Republicans and concerned citizens to end the infighting and come togther as Americans is now.
“It’s time to get to work, and I’m ready to focus on governing,” he wrote.
Armstrong’s lawyer, Barry Grissom, issued a statement to The Associated Press.
“Brandie Armstrong and Aaron Coleman are passionate about helping their constituents,” Grissom told The Associated Press.
“In service to their constituents, they have resolved the civil case by an agreed upon dismissal,” he said.
Armstrong worked for Frownfelter, who was narrowly defeated by Coleman in last summer’s Democratic primary and again as a write-in candidate during the general election.
She had filed a petition in Wyandotte County District Court asking a judge to issue an order to keep the incoming lawmaker away from her because of harassment that she said “makes me fear for my safety and the safety of my family.”
The petition was the latest in a string of events involving Coleman, some of which surfaced after he narrowly upset Frownfelter in the Democrat primary last summer.
Coleman has been under fire from his own party after he acknowledged allegations of online bullying, blackmail and revenge porn when he was in middle school.
He has apologized and promised that he has changed his ways.
Armstrong listed seven different incidents in her petition, accusing Coleman of repeatedly contacting her since at least May after she had already agreed to go to work for Frownfelter.
Wyandotte County District Judge Kathleen Lynch had issued a temporary protective order against Coleman. A trial on a permanent order had been set for March 8.
The settlement will not affect a movement to expel Coleman from the Legislature as early as next week.
He’s already been denied committee assignments and has not been given an office ahead of the upcoming legislative session.
A complaint seeking his Coleman’s removal is already being prepared. It’s expected to be filed next Tuesday on the second day of the legislative session.
It would take a two-thirds vote of the House to expel Coleman from the Legislature.
Democratic state Rep. Brandon Woodard of Lenexa said he didn’t believe the latest agreement would change the mood about expelling him from the House.
“I haven’t heard from anyone any differently,” Woodard said.
“My guess is the general sense is that this just another apology in a series of apologies, but the bad behavior hasn’t stopped.”
On Wednesday, a GoFundMe page was started to help Coleman legally battle an effort to boot him from the House. So far, $25 of the $25,000 goal had been raised.
“Ever since Aaron first announced his campaign to bring a progressive voice to the Kansas House of Representatives, the Democratic establishment has been engaged in an all-out information war to silence his voice,” the page said.
“Help us stand up for what is right: for truth, for the democratic process, and for honesty in media,” the page said.
“Donate today to help Aaron counter-sue the Democratic Party insiders running their smear campaign in an attempt to oust him without any real evidence to support their claims.”
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