A women’s group plans to remove an A grade it had awarded a state House candidate who has been accused of emotionally abusing several women.
Women for Kansas will pull the A grade it gave Democrat Chris Haulmark, who’s running for House District 15 against Republican John Toplikar, said Anna Anderson, one of the group’s founders.
The group said it was removing the grade after it was contacted by the Sunflower State Journal early on Tuesday.
Anderson said the group was not aware of news reports about the allegations, which led the Democratic Party to distance itself from Haulmark last week. The MainStream Coalition’s political action committee also withdrew its support for Haulmark.
The grade had been posted in the group’s voting guide on its website since August, she said, but had not changed after news broke of the allegations against Haulmark.
“That is something we had no way of knowing,” Anderson said in an interview Tuesday afternoon. “Of course, it is nothing we could determine from the questionnaires and voting records.”
Nevertheless, Anderson said the group would remove the grade. No grade would be assigned in its place, she said.
“This is the first time we had it called to our attention,” Anderson said of the allegations against Haulmark.
“We will remove the grade now that we know there are some serious allegations.”
Women for Kansas originally gave Haulmark an A, meant to show that he’s committed to the broader interests of the state and has “the courage to resist special interest pressures.”
The group only gave Haulmark a grade, with no reference to the abuse allegations that surfaced last week and caused the Democratic Party to distance itself from him.
Women for Kansas says it researched the voting records of incumbents and the public statements of challengers in key statewide races and all statehouse elections.
The group said it wanted to know the candidates’ positions on tax policy, education funding, health care, renewable energy, voting rights and judicial independence, among other issues.
At least two women — Jennifer Carlino and Tonia Jimmerson — posted their abuse allegations on Facebook. The Kansas City Star reported the instance of a third woman who accused Haulmark of emotional abuse, as well.
Jimmerson, for instance, accused Haulmark of threatening to burn down a tent where her youngest daughter was sleeping, a charge that Haulmark disputed.
“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.”
The Democratic Party and House Democrats condemned the reported behavior, saying it disqualified him from being a party standard bearer.
Haulmark explained on Facebook how he came to realize 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.”
Formed in 2013, Women for Kansas seeks to elect moderate candidates who will reverse many of the policies adopted under former Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration. The group gave GOP gubernatorial candidate Kris Kobach an F, for example.
The group describes itself on its website as a “grassroots initiative designed to energize and educate individuals and groups of women across the state for the purpose of ensuring the election of moderate candidates.”
The group’s goal is to bring “like-minded women” together and give them the knowledge and tools to get them to engage in politics.
In the report card, the group said it tried to be as objective as possible in assigning letter grades to candidates.
“Nonetheless, we acknowledge that we have looked at the candidates through our own subjective prism.
“We are proud to be called ‘moderates’ and we strongly believe our state needs more of them in positions of leadership.”
