A Kansas city manager has been suspended and is expected to lose his job after a video of him masturbating on a couch was anonymously sent to staffers.
Doug Gerber, who headed the Kansas City suburb of Shawnee's City Council, was unanimously voted onto administrative leave during an emergency meeting Wednesday night.
According to the Kansas City Star, the email was allegedly sent on September 29 with “MOST IMPORTANT” in the subject line. It wasn't until Halloween night, however, that Council President Eric Jenkins found out about it. He slammed Gerber for hiding the scandal for over a month, adding, “If he failed to communicate on this, what else has he failed to communicate on?”
A city IT employee told staffers following the incident that he believed it was “just a disturbed individual trying to cause issues with the city.”
The outlet managed to get a hold of the anonymous sender, who explained that he had shared the clip in an attempt to expose what they referred to as Gerber's online behavior, suggesting without evidence that the politician had filmed himself in order to tempt someone.
“We don't hesitate to expose people involved in these dubious and un-Catholic practices,” he said.
Many in City Hall were not surprised by the revelations, citing concerns they'd had when Gerber was hired. Jenkins, for example, noted that the former Topeka interim city manager had been investigated over rumors of “impropriety.”
“What I do know is that during the city manager hiring process, the governing body had been made aware of previous issues and accusations against Mr. Geber,” Shawnee Mayor Michelle Distler said in a statement.
“The additional concerns I raised during those discussions were dismissed, and the council proceeded to choose Mr. Gerber, stating he was most closely aligned with their values.”
Those who took part in the hiring process said the “thoroughly searched the background of Mr. Gerber and had found absolutely nothing that would give us cause not to select him.”
