(Updated to reflect effort to reach Haulmark)
The MainStream Coaliton’s political action committee on Thursday pulled its support for Democratic House candidate Chris Haulmark after he had been accused of abuse by several women.
“The allegations brought by several individuals against Mr. Haulmark, along with his statements about past behavior, have led the MainPAC committee to reconsider the endorsement,” the group said in a statement today.
An effort to reach Haulmark’s campaign manager for comment was not successful on Thursday.
Earlier this week, Kansas Democrats distanced themselves from Haulmark after charges of abuse surfaced on social media in recent days. Also, the Kansas Equality Coalition did not back Haulmark in that race when it issued its endorsements.
The Democratic Party and the House Democrats issued a statement condemning the behavior alleged against Chris Haulmark by at least two women.
Haulmark is seeking to become the country’s first deaf lawmaker. He is running against Republican John Toplikar in House District 15, which is centered in Olathe.
Haulmark also did not report a loan he received to run for Congress from one of the women who accused him of abuse and took him to court to get the money back.
An expert said the $1,100 loan should have been reported on his campaign finance report when he ran for Congress before withdrawing to run for the Legislature.
The women — Jennifer Carlino and Tonia Jimmerson — posted their allegations on Facebook. Carlino had been a roommate of Haulmark’s from April 2017 to Januray 2018 and Jimmerson said she had dated Haulmark for two years.
Jimmerson, for instance, accused Haulmark of threatening to burn down a tent where her youngest daughter was sleeping, a charge that Haulmark disputes.
“I experienced financial abuse, emotional abuse, mental abuse,” Jimmerson wrote on Facebook. “He could be very kind and charming and supportive. But he could also be very mean and demeaning and to the point where I began to walk on eggshells around him.”
Carlino wrote on her Facebook page in an apparent message to District 15 voters, “He is not who you think he is. He has a history of mistreatment, abuse, and domestic violence toward deaf and hard-of-hearing people, especially deaf women.”
The allegations were later picked up and circulated on the Daily Moth, an online news site that serves the hearing impaired and posts daily videos recapping news in American Sign Language.
The allegations hit the Internet a day before they were published in mainstream media.
Haulmark explained on Facebook how he came to realize how he suffered from borderline personality disorder, a mental illness marked by an ongoing pattern of varying moods.
“Through many years of therapy, I found ways to cope, ways to deal with my emotions, and ways to understand my personality disorder,” Haulmark wrote. “I stand by this path to recovery that has also led me to and through this campaign. “
