Dan Johnson's lawyer is an unapologetic sexist and racist and wants you to know it | Gerth

Thomas McAdam says he's not a misogynist. He just doesn't respect lawyers who are women. 

"My prejudice against women lawyers is widely known," he said matter-of-factly when I called him recently to ask about offensive things he's posted on his Facebook page. 

McAdam is the lawyer representing Metro Council member Dan Johnson, who is facing removal from office for allegedly groping one of his female colleagues and dropping his trousers in front of a woman who works for the council. 

An alleged groper represented by a self-acknowledged chauvinist is not a good look. 

McAdam's social posts about race are cringe-worthy, too. He mocks African-American leaders and athletes who stand against racism.

One post shows a picture of former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick and asks why people who are biracial often identify as being black. "Because there is no benefit of being white. No privilege." 

He posts articles suggesting that actresses are to blame for producer Harvey Weinstein's sexual assaults. 

He's known to post false news stories from dubious sources attacking Muslims and immigrants — as he did a few weeks ago when he posted an untrue story blaming an Iranian immigrant for the California forest fires. 

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His most recent controversy started with a 3-year-old Facebook post in which McAdam wrote that women lawyers were like bears who ride bicycles at the circus. "One is impressed not by the fact that they do it poorly, but that they can do it at all," he wrote. 

That began making its rounds on social media Thursday. On Friday he posted a cartoon of a woman lawyer tossing a coin into a well and wishing that she was twice as smart as she is.

Poof.

In the cartoon, she becomes a man. 

Wow.

McAdam said he believes women generally are poor lawyers because they take things too personally. "A lot of people don’t take women lawyers seriously because they act like little girls," he said. 

He said there are at least a half a dozen women lawyers around town who won't talk to him. I'm surprised there aren't more. 

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The fact that some women lawyers have shunned him, however, may be simply a matter of taste. They have it. 

He did admit that there are a handful of good women lawyers, like divorce lawyer Ann Oldfather, who he said "can give as good as she can get." 

And he said women make "damn good judges. ... Some of them are drop-dead gorgeous, they're courteous, respectful. My little heart goes pitter-patter when I walk into court." 

"They have compassion, they have understanding, I would much rather try a case before a woman judge than a man judge," he said.

McAdam says people shouldn't think of him as a misogynist. 

"I don't call women 'honey,' I don't pat them on the butt. ... I don't do demeaning stuff like that," he said. 

He just trashes them, their abilities and their intelligence online. 

In return, he was trashed on social media last week. One person wrote on Facebook, "I know him he is a sexist pig and glorifies in it. Find a right wing obnoxious cause and he is there representing it. He is best ignored."

Did I mention he represented the Confederate sympathizers who sued to keep the old Confederate memorial near the University of Louisville?

He defends taking on scoundrels as clients by saying, "Lawyers are whores. They work for whoever pays them."

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While acknowledging his dislike of women lawyers, McAdam seems to think that it's all right to say whatever you want as long as it's couched as a joke. 

"It's hyperbole. It's a joke. Humor is hyperbole," he said. 

"I think it's funny to tell jokes about women," McAdam said. "I think it's funny to tell jokes about Catholics. I'm a Catholic." 

And if people don't share his sense of humor, McAdam doesn't care. 

"A lot of people think I'm an asshole. I confess to being an asshole," he said. 

If you poll the women lawyers in Louisville, and a lot of the men, you're unlikely to find many who would disagree.

Joseph Gerth's column runs on most Sundays and at various times throughout the week. He can be reached at 502-582-4702 or by email at jgerth@courier-journal.com.

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