Michigan Republican bragged about his 'golden' genitals to subordinates: lawsuit

On Thursday, the Associated Press revealed new details about past discrimination lawsuits against Kevin Rinke, a former Toyota dealership owner now running for governor of Michigan.

"Court documents state that Rinke also referred to his own genitals as 'golden' while threatening to sexually assault a used car manager if he didn’t 'do a good job,'" reported Brian Slodysko, Sara Burnett, and Thomas Beaumont. "If the manager did a 'great job,' the court documents state, Rinke would have allowed the man to pleasure him sexually."

"Much of Rinke’s conduct was reported by his personal secretary, who alleged that he would inquire about her underwear, call her at home if she failed to say goodnight and would also phone to ask 'which young stud' she was with while speculating about her sex life," said the report. "Once, when employees were looking at pictures of newborn babies, Rinke commented on how well-endowed one of the baby boys was, the lawsuit states."

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This comes after previous reporting by The Detroit News, which revealed past litigation alleges Rinke made a number of sexist comments including that women are too "ignorant and stupid" to work in public, and that he used racial slurs and asked a Black employee who he stole his car from at a party.

Rinke denies all of the allegations about his behavior in the workplace, saying, “It wasn’t true then. It wasn’t true now.”

Rinke is one of a handful of Republicans running for Michigan governor after several of the leading candidates were disqualified from the ballot for signature irregularities. Another of the remaining candidates, Ryan Kelley, was arrested by the FBI last month for his activities at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, and was arraigned today on multiple charges.