(LOS ANGELES, CA) -- Hustler magazine publisher and would-be California governor Larry Flynt has been sued for sexual harassment by a former employee who claims she found sex toys in the company dishwasher.

Elizabeth Rene Raymond, a former executive assistant to two top officers of Flynt's company, Larry Flynt Publications, sued for sexual harassment and wrongful dismissal from her job on Monday, the same day as Flynt announced he was running in California's October gubernatorial recall election under the slogan "a smut peddler who cares".

Raymond, who was fired from her job a year ago, claims that Flynt fostered a hostile work environment. She said in the lawsuit she had found sex toys in the company dishwasher that were "used on the prostitutes who visited his office." Raymond was dismissed shortly after complaining to her supervisors.

Flynt Publications did not immediately return calls for comment on the lawsuit.

Flynt, 61, told a news conference on Monday he planned to run in the October ballot to unseat California Gov. Gray Davis, but would not spend millions campaigning if private polling showed that his background in pornography and gambling made him unacceptable to voters.