11/8/17 — The Fall of Jeff Hoover, Councilman Dan Johnson’s Harassment Trial, Rand Paul Assaulted, & Alison Lundergan Grimes Controversy

Robert Kahne
My Old Kentucky Podcast
13 min readJan 4, 2018

The Fall of Jeff Hoover

  • On Nov. 1, the Courier-Journal reported that Speaker Jeff Hoover had secretly settled a sexual harassment claim against him. The Courier was made aware of this settlement by being leaked copies of the text messages. These messages also found there way to a twitter account, @SpeakerJHoover.
  • The texts appear to be sexual banter between an unknown person and Jeff Hoover. The Courier reports that “the woman engaged in the suggestive text exchanges initially because another legislative staffer told her she needed to keep Hoover happy to advance her career. After reevaluating the nature of the relationship, the woman came to believe it was harassment and created a hostile work environment.”
  • Hoover was widely denounced by Democrats, with Rep. Mary Lou Marzian saying to the Courier “The culture up there is an attitude toward women that is very condescending. They openly objectify women”.
  • On November 3, it appeared the GOP had rallied around Jeff Hoover. After a meeting of their caucus, Majority Leader Jonathan Shell said “Right now, Jeff Hoover is the Speaker of the House and has the full support of the caucus.” Hoover didn’t speak that night, but it was made clear by then that he had no intentions to resign as Speaker. That very night, though, cracks began to emerge, when Rep. Wesley Morgan said that Shell’s comments “did not reflect the consensus of our caucus.”
  • Things got extra crazy on Nov. 4, when it was discovered that three more GOP house members were also involved in the sexual harassment case. Rep. Morgan also went off on twitter, alleging that there had been threats of firings and physical violence against whistleblowers, which he said were violations of the Hobbs Act.
  • A note: C. Welsey Morgan has drawn significant criticism during his first term as a representative for filing bills which essentially would have bailed him out of a tax problem, and for filing a bill which would have decriminalized hitting protesters with cars. He’s an…imperfect messenger.
  • This all led to Governor Bevin called for the resignations of “lawmakers trying to hide sexual harassment” at 4PM on Nov. 4. The Governor said “These alleged actions, which haven’t been denied, are reprehensible, indefensible, and unacceptable. Any elected official or state employee who has settled a sexual harassment claim should resign immediately. The people of Kentucky deserve better.”
  • Later on that day, GOP leaders in the House (sans Jeff Hoover) announced the launch of an “independent investigation because of the allegations and rumors swirling in the media and the Capitol”. No formal guidelines were released, but the GOP leaders said that an outside law firm would be conducting the investigation, and that they were working with LRC to give that group subpoena power. They also removed the other implicated House members from their committee chairmanships.
  • As late as 8PM on Nov. 4, Jeff Hoover stated that he had no intentions to resign, and said he was disappointed in Matt Bevin’s press conference. “One must wonder why he is so motivated to attack us unless his goal is to remove a voice that dares on occasion to disagree with him as I have done when he has made unnecessary statements attacking our teachers, state workers, and retirees who are simply looking for better solutions to very serious problems facing our state”. Hoover also decried the Governor for not receiving a “courtesy call” before “grandstanding”.
  • But, The next day, Nov. 5, Jeff Hoover resigned as House Speaker. He will retain his house seat. The key quote from his press conference was “I did make mistakes in that I engaged in inappropriate text messages. I engaged in banter that was consensual, and for that, I am truly sorry. But as inappropriate as those text messages were, I was to reiterate that at no time — at no time — did I engage in unwelcome or unwanted conduct of any kind. And at no time were there ever any sexual relations.”
  • Now, David Osborne, Speaker Pro Tempore, is the Speaker of the House. It’s too early to tell if this will have any impact at all on the pension bill or the budget, but it’s pretty clear that it will, on some level.
  • What a turn of events! It’s not the first sexual harassment scandal to rock Frankfort. Back in 2013, a Democratic Representative, John Arnold, was found guilty by the LRC ethics commission of violating the state’s ethics code in relation to a sexual harassment claim. This caused a substantial shift in how the LRC handles sexual harassment charges — but only for non-partisan staff. The woman who worked for Rep. Hoover was partisan staff.
  • The scandal resulted in Lawmakers being required to spend 3 hours of mandatory time on ethics training and sexual harassment in the workplace. During the latest session, there was a bill filed by Sen. John Schickel to reduce that to 30 minutes, and he called the training “an exercise in political correctness”.
  • This is a really terrible situation, and I at least hope that the legislature takes some steps to address this issue next session.

References

Alison Lundergan Grimes and the Missing Voter Data

  • It was reported on October 25 that the Kentucky State Board of Elections fired their Executive Director and the assistant to the director. These two were fired on a 3–2 vote of the bipartisan board, and the vote was not along party lines. The ED, Maryellen Allen, is a Democrat, and the assistant to the director, Matthew Selph, is a Republican.
  • It was immediately alleged that the firings were in response to a complaint that Mr. Selph had fired with the Executive Branch Ethics Commission. His complaint alleged that Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes improperly gathered voter information from the state’s voter registration system during the campaigns she ran for Senate and reelection to the Secretary of State’s office. Mr. Selph is quoted in the Herald-Leader saying “Data that is released is documented, recorded, and tracked through every step of the system to ensure that everything was done property. When the data was taken out of the building on a thumb drive, that trust was broken. We have no way to know what was on it, where it went, or what it was used for.
  • Statewide candidates are allowed to request voter information from the State Board of Elections. It costs $450 each time, and Mr. Selph alleges that Ms. Grimes only paid once. He further alleges that staffers in the Sec’y of State’s office were given administrative access to the database inappropriately, and that a $159,000 contract for data security was granted without a vote from the State Board of Elections and against their wishes. The owner of the company that received the contract was a major donor to Ms. Grimes in her Senatorial and her run for Secretary of State.
  • Secretary Grimes called Mr. Selph’s allegations “politically motivated and spurious”. Her office said that voter data is not only available from the State Board of Elections, but also from political parties and third party vendors. Her office pointed to minutes from the February 21, 2017 meeting of the State Board of Elections, where they said the board “took appropriate action to engage with the vendor”, but Mr. Selph says that did not constitute a vote to authorize a contract. Secretary Grimes did not address the claim that her staff inappropriately was given access to voter data. Ms. Grimes lastly stated that the State Board of Elections voted to terminate these two individuals, in a bipartisan manner, and that she did not have a vote on the matter.

Resources

The Dan Johnson Saga

  • We aren’t talking about the State Representative Dan Johnson who posted racist memes on Facebook. This is Dan Johnson Louisville Metro Councilman. And it seems to be the saga that never ends. Even since we decided to talk about this, there have been major developments in the story.
  • Dan Johnson is Democrat and Louisville’s longest serving city official
  • Timeline
  • Back in June, Councilwoman Jessica Green accused Dan Johnson of sexual harassment, stating that he grabbed her butt and squeezed during a group photo and then laughed about it. First he said it was an accident, and then he sent out a tweet that he later deleted saying Green harassed him first by nestling agaisnt his left side.
  • He was also accused of exposing his own butt to a legislative aid of Angela Leet and sexually harassing an employee of Greater Louisville
  • Dan Johnson did not want to resign from his seat, but did say he wouldn’t see re-election and would do counseling
  • It turns out, city council members are not covered by city HR guidelines. On June 16, Green and Leet announced they’d be drafting sexual harassment policies that would cover city council members
  • On June 20, Johnson’s attorney threatens legal action against Leet and Green for making the allegations, but the same day Johnson made public apologies to both of them
  • On June 29th, Johnson left the Democratic caucus but did not resign from the council
  • In August, five Metro Council members formed a charging committee, seeking to remove Dan Johnson from office. Aside from the harassment allegations, the formal charging document also included failing to vet his former aide, who was fired for mismanagement and using racial slurs and, and also making a comment about his inability to remember events making him less accountable. The document also claimed Johnson had a theft by deception charge in another county.
  • A pretrial hearing was held in October where pretrial motions were heard, one being about the number of votes needed for removal. There was a small change to the language of the statute that was previously ⅔ of sitting council, but now reads as ⅔ of entire council. Dan Johnson’s attorney Thomas McAdam (more on him later) argued that 18 votes were needed, so the issue was whether the charging committee was to be included or excluded
  • Council President David Yates ruled that only 14 votes were needed, and any other ruling would be absurd.
  • “Yates cited how the same statute now appears to make it impossible to remove the mayor of Louisville from office: If 18 votes are needed to remove a mayor, and a charging committee to remove a mayor must have at least 10 council members, that means the Council Court would be made up of less members than the number of votes needed to remove that mayor.”
  • Johnson and the charging committee could not vote
  • There were also motions to enter photographs into evidence, a motion to disqualify David Yates, and a motion to subpoena 19 witnesses, including Philip Bailey of the C-J who has been reporting on the Dan Johnson story from the beginning. He said that if he did not product information about his communications with witnesses and anonymous sources he would ask for him to be held in contempt and incarcerated until he talked. McAdam also threatened to sue the C-J if they did not pull three articles they had published about Johnson.
  • Yates did not grant the request to subpoena Philip Bailey. He granted requests to admit photos and subpoena 14 witnesses
  • Prior to the trial, a mediation occurred and a settlement was offered. Under the deal, Dan Johnson would not be removed if he admitted to transgressions and wrongdoing and agrees there’s enough evidence to remove him. The deal also would prohibit him from being in City Hall except for 20 minutes before and 10 minutes after any meeting. He also couldn’t have contact with any council member or staffer except by phone or email; not attend any ceremonial functions representing the council; and be subject to immediate removal if a three-member panel determines he violated the letter or spirit of the settlement.
  • Members of the charging committee were unhappy that a settlement was even offered at all.
  • The day before the trial, Johnson told reporters that the County Attorney’s office was paying McAdam to represent Johnson, so this means that the city is paying the legal costs for all of this, despite a rule adopted by the council six years ago that council members had the right to be represented by private counsel AT THEIR OWN EXPENSE for removal proceedings
  • Going back to Dan Johnson’s attorney, McAdam was posting things on Facebook about how women attorneys are stupid just days before the trial. When asked about it, Dan Johnson said “it’s just a cartoon.” McAdam has also posted racist garbage about Attica Scott when she was a member of the Metro Council and he is very open about his beliefs that women are stupid.
  • On November 1, the day of the trial, a motion to censure was made. Censure is basically less severe than removal or expulsion. It’s like a formal disapproval. Johnson’s attorney said that if censured, they would agree to a stipulation that mirrored what was in the plea deal offered. The council voted 13–6 (four Rs, nine Ds) for censure and Johnson was able to keep his seat. An additional provision of the settlement included that he could not intentionally or accidentally expose his genitals or buttocks.
  • The censure decision was met with a decent amount of outrage from the community, from all sides of the the political spectrum.
  • This happened last Wednesday, fast forward to Monday and Dan Johnson is already facing expulsion for violating the terms of his agreement
  • A three member panel will hear a complaint filed by Leet that Johnson was in City Hall well after the agreed upon time limits. A second complaint was made by Bill Hollander that Johnson’s facebook posts following the trial violated the spirit of the settlement and contradict the admission to transgressions and wrongdoing
  • Johnson says the council is misreading the agreement and he will appeal any decision to remove him
  • The panel met on Monday with no public notice (required by Open Meetings). The panel and an assistant county attorney admitted notice should have been given and rescheduled a special meeting for Tuesday. They punted on Tuesday, citing that they are trying ot make sure the panel was set up correctly legally speaking. Now that meeting is scheduled for next Monday, but there is a council meeting tomorrow (Thursday) and there is a #MeToo rally planned to protest the decision to keep Dan Johnson on the council
  • Mayor Fischer also made a statement, that said basically nothing and didn’t even mention Dan Johnson: “In my administration I have a record of supporting and promoting women, including placing them in positions of leadership and making clear that harassment of any type is not acceptable and will not be tolerated. While this is a council matter and they make decisions about their own institution, our citizens must be equally confident this standard will be upheld by them,”
  • Bevin came out much stronger on the GOP harassment claims
  • “These alleged actions, which haven’t been denied, are reprehensible, indefensible and unacceptable, Any elected official or state employee who has settled a sexual harassment claim should resign immediately. The people of Kentucky deserve better.”
  • “You either publicly condone or you publicly condemn this type of behavior”

Resources

Rand Paul has a rough weekend

  • During an already eventful weekend for Kentucky politicians, it comes out that Senator Rand Paul has been assaulted at his Bowling Green home. So when I first heard, I assumed this was political or that his home got broken into. But later, more facts start to come out and the alleged perpetrator is his anesthesiologist neighbor, Rene Boucher. They live in the same gated community, and their properties border one another.
  • It was reported that Rand Paul was mowing his grass when the assault occurred, and he was tackled. I guess I have questions about what kind of lawnmower he had and how this happened (the Times said it was a riding mower). But he suffered six broken ribs!
  • Boucher was arrested and charged with assault in the fourth degree and posted a $7,500 bond.
  • So a lot of people keep saying things to me, like “I can’t believe he was only charged with a misdemeanor,” but it actually take quite a bit to get to a felony assault
  • The lowest class of felony assault is assault in the third degree, which is pretty simple. That’s an assault on a police officer or various other state workers, even the most minor assault
  • Then there’s assault in the second degree, which requires a serious physical injury or use of a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument
  • So this could be a minor injury but it was done with a knife or brass knuckles or something. That’d make it a second degree assault
  • The other way for it to be a second degree assault is a serious physical injury, which is actually a pretty high standard. To constitute a serious physical, there has to be prolonged impairment of health, substantial risk of death, prolonged disfigurement, or prolonged loss or impairment of the function of a bodily organ
  • So it’s kind of tough to say if broken ribs would fall under this definition. If this was an injury that would take months and months to heal and he wouldn’t be able to fly or work, then yeah, maybe it’s serious.
  • So Boucher could have been charged with an assault in the second degree, but as long as Rand Paul is going to be okay and fully recover, I think assault in the fourth degree is the more appropriate charge. KSP also called the injuries minor, but I don’t know if they said this before or after it was determined that he had broken ribs. KSP also said that if a prosecutor believes the injuries are deemed severe enough, they may amend the charge to a felony
  • Boucher allegedly admitted to tackling Paul. but detail about why are still pretty sparse.
  • The FBI and KSP are apparently getting involved, which I guess you gotta do that for a US Senator, but this sounds like a neighbor spat. The lawyer for Mr. Boucher said that it was a very trivial matter that led to the dispute
  • A lot of the speculation says that it was some sort of dispute over yard waste. Paul grows pumpkins on his property and composts. Some competing theories from neighbors include unraked leaves, newly planted saplings, and stray yard clippings
  • One neighbor was quoted in NYT and said they just didn’t get along and it didn’t have anything to do with politics.
  • “I think it was a neighbor-to-neighbor thing. They just both had strong opinions, and a little different ones about what property rights mean.”
  • Another neighbor said that Paul believes in stronger property rights than what exists in America
  • A friend that visited Paul this weekend however, said that the two hadn’t spoken in a long time and Rand Paul still doesn’t know why he was attacked

Resources

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