Former Pima County Treasurer Brian Johnson claims he had a consensual relationship with a female employee and that recent allegations of sexual misconduct were part of a larger conspiracy to remove him from office.
But Pima County Administrator Jan Lesher denied Johnson’s claims of conspiracy and confirmed she recommended Johnson resign in a one-on-one meeting.
“I indicated that there was what I felt had been irrefutable evidence of sexual harassment in the workplace,” she said.
Johnson's response comes after the Star obtained redacted emails and partial copies of Johnson’s personnel files that lay out a wide range of allegations, including inappropriately adjusting himself in front of employees, displaying explicit art in his office, distributing erotic writings to employees and teenage interns, and one instance of unwanted physical touch.
People are also reading…
Johnson
The list of allegations comes from emails between Pima County Human Resources staff discussing at least two meetings with a female employee held in the weeks leading up to Johnson’s resignation on June 12.
Johnson, who was elected to the post as a Democrat in 2024, resigned in a letter to county supervisors citing “recent changes in my personal responsibilities.”
His resignation came with speculation that it might be due to a months-long back-and-forth with the Pima County Assessor’s Office over whether to issue about $6 million in property tax refunds.
He refused to issue the funds to about 630 property owners, alleging the assessment method that found the overpayments went against state law. County leaders, including Pima County Assessor Suzanne Droubie and current acting Treasurer Jake Martin, have since said the assessment method was ethical.
Lesher said the property tax dispute was separate from the behavior complaints.
Interim treasurer denies Johnson's claim
Johnson denied inappropriate behavior and told the Star the relationship with the employee who filed the complaint was consensual.
He maintained Droubie’s assessment method was illegal and alleged Lesher and Droubie approached the employee with a plan to remove him from office.
“Nobody else said anything to me, and I know that my people would have went to HR a long time ago if they had a problem with me,” he said.
The employee told HR that Johnson “always touches himself when he talks to us,” and said he frequently stuck his hands in his pockets to “adjust himself.”
Johnson denied inappropriate touch.
“I think that was a totally immature type of a statement to try to make on her part, you know, just to come up with things, and believe me, I think she was prompted through this whole thing,” he said.
Lesher said his claims of conspiracy had no validity.
Acting treasurer Jake Martin, previously the chief deputy treasurer under Johnson, denied that Johnson's relationship with the employee was consensual. He said nothing in the complaints was fabricated and said he saw screenshots of inappropriate text messages and witnessed inappropriate comments by the treasurer to the employee.
"There were several instances where she came into my office in tears because she didn't know what to do. Clearly, this was not someone who was in a consensual relationship with their supervisor," he said.
Martin also said the employee was unclassified, meaning they serve at-will and can be fired for any reason. Martin said this made the stakes of reporting the incidents higher.
"There would be nothing that could protect her or to guarantee her employment. She had no other source of income, so it was a very difficult situation for her to be in," he said.
The employee told HR staff at one point that Johnson initiated a hug and tried to kiss her, and ended up licking her face when she tried to pull away, records show.
Johnson said the kissing incident happened outside the workplace when the employee drove him to a doctor’s appointment. He claimed she initiated the kiss and compared it to a scene in The Godfather.
“It's like 'the kiss of death,' you know what I mean, that's how I kind of look at it now,” he said.
The employee reported that Johnson continued to proposition her, inviting her to attend sex parties and participate in Johnson’s sexual relationship with his girlfriend, even after repeated requests to keep his personal life separate from work, records show. In one text message, the employee reported he sent her a nude photo in a hot tub with two other people.
County officials said they could not include attached images or screenshots of text messages in the documents obtained by the Star, citing confidentiality reasons, but provided a list of document descriptions that exist in Johnson’s personnel file. The document lists 14 screenshots of texts between Johnson and the employee, as well as pictures of wall art Johnson allegedly had in his office depicting naked women, and a document that was being prepared “for review by legal department.”
Johnson said the county had not yet fulfilled his request for his own records, and he had not seen the list of allegations the Star obtained.
Distributing explicit books
Johnson is also disputing that he distributed explicit written material to teenage interns and other staff.
In a separate email thread, HR Director Cathy Bohland wrote to Deputy County Administrator Chad Kasmar that Johnson “attempted” to give copies of a book called Imperia to two female interns, one who was 18 and another who was turning 18 in two weeks. Johnson has written at least two self-published books available on Amazon.
The Imperia book is listed on Amazon as “a sexy, high-intensity romance suspense and political thriller.”
Johnson told the Star the book is “not necessarily romance, more of a political thriller.”
The back cover describes the book as “a love affair involving an older man and two younger women.”
In the thread, Bohland asked Kasmar if giving the interns this book would be considered criminal. Kasmar was the Tucson police chief for five years before being hired by the county earlier this spring.
“While not criminal its more of it paints picture of potential grooming behavior,” Kasmar wrote back.
Johnson disputes that the content was inappropriate.
“There was actually, you know, a romance in there, but there was nothing in there that would be considered suggestive or pornographic or erotic,” he said. “Go on Amazon, buy a copy, read it, you know, you can see that it's not anything about that.”
