Prominent Kentucky Democrats, including Gov. Andy Beshear and House Democratic Caucus members, are calling for the resignation of Louisville Democratic Rep. Daniel Grossberg following new allegations of inappropriate behavior toward women. The caucus also voted to permanently expel Grossberg.
Beshear addressed reporters at the Capitol Friday following a morning report from the Lexington Herald-Leader saying Grossberg received a lifetime ban from a Louisville strip club after inappropriately touching a dancer. The story also alleges Grossberg offered another dancer $5,000 to have sex with him.
“I want to once again state clearly and unequivocally that Rep. Grossberg should resign,” Beshear said. “He should resign.”
Beshear added that he and Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman “stand united together” in believing that calling for Grossberg’s resignation “is the right thing to do.
“And I hope he hears it, and I hope he follows it,” Beshear said.
Coleman said in her statement “enough is enough.”
“Women and girls in Kentucky deserve better and so do Rep. Grossberg’s constituents,” Coleman said. “He has had ample opportunity to do the right thing by stepping aside, and if I were him, I’d take it sooner rather than later.”
Grossberg’s attorney, Anna Whites, told the Kentucky Lantern Friday that Grossberg plans to continue in office and denied the allegations in the latest Herald-Leader report.
As the governor’s press conference ended, Kentucky Democratic Party Chair Colmon Elridge released a statement calling Grossberg “unfit to serve” in office.
“Every individual deserves to be held accountable for their own actions — particularly those who represent Kentuckians in the halls of our Capitol,” Eldrige said. “Representative Grossberg has repeatedly proven that he is unfit to serve and must resign from office.”
The House Democratic Caucus met Friday morning and “voiced strong support for the victims,” said leaders Reps. Derrick Graham, Cherlynn Stevenson and Rachel Roberts in a joint statement. Caucus members “are calling on Representative Grossberg to resign immediately,” they said.
“Our caucus does not believe Rep. Grossberg should hold office as he responds to these appalling matters,” caucus leaders said. “It has become abundantly clear to us that he cannot and should not represent his constituents and our commonwealth any longer.”
The caucus leaders sent an additional statement hours later that said caucus members “voted to expel him permanently as a caucus member.” Grossberg was notified of the change, they added.
The latest revelations follow the House Democratic Caucus temporarily suspending Grossberg after asking the Legislative Ethics Commission to investigate allegations that he sent inappropriate text messages to women earlier this summer. Grossberg has also been asked to “temporarily refrain from participating” in Louisville Democratic Party events and removed from his interim committee assignments.
Two women anonymously quoted in an August Herald-Leader story about their interactions with Grossberg recently went public and identified themselves. They are Lexington Fayette Urban County Council candidate Emma Curtis and Kentucky Young Democrats President Allison Wiseman.
Grossberg represents the 30th House District, which includes central parts of Jefferson County.
Beshear said last month that Grossberg should seriously consider if “a public office is the best or most appropriate place for him to be at this time.”
Friday morning, other elected officials, including Democratic U.S. Rep. Morgan McGarvey of Louisville, state Sen. Cassie Chambers Armstrong (D-Louisville), and Rep. Chad Aull (D-Lexington), called for Grossberg’s resignation Friday morning. Chair of the Louisville Democratic Party Logan Gatti also called on the representative to resign.
Previously, the executive board of Kentucky Young Democrats called on Grossberg to resign after reviewing evidence it had seen at the time and “the experiences of multiple board members.” Louisville Young Democrats and Fayette County Young Democrats have also called on Grossberg to resign.
Grossberg, who is in his first term in the House, narrowly won his primary election by 50 votes. He does not face a Republican challenger in the upcoming general election.
Whites said Grossberg plans to continue serving his constituents.
“He’s spent the past several weeks in Frankfort and in his district, working hard to do the job he was elected to do,” Whites said. “We do not intend to attack or disparage witnesses in the paper, but definitely look forward to both the ethics process and any other means of correcting what we see as inaccuracies or false statements in some of the Herald-Leader reporting.”
Grossberg has sought to dismiss an ethics complaint filed by House Democratic leadership against him. Whites said throughout this, Grossberg maintains that the disputes alleged in the complaint could have been resolved “if House Democratic leadership had maintained and retained the harassment reporting policy” it had a few years ago. Whites said the policy was “known to everybody” so that concerns could be immediately reported and mediated with a confidential third party.
“We want anyone who has a concern or a complaint, particularly if they’re a member of the public, but also if they’re a political peer, like Emma or Allison or anyone else, we want them to have that avenue known to them, that they can use in the moment. Most of these claims are a year or two old,” Whites said. “Those should have been addressed quickly and easily in real time. And if the House had had appropriate, impartial, nonpartisan procedures we wouldn’t see it playing out now, shortly before an election, which looks a little gamesmanship-y.”
Brian Wilkerson, a spokesperson for the House Democratic Caucus, told the Lantern that White’s reference to the reporting policy was “another blatant yet weak attempt by Anna Whites to somehow shift the blame for her client’s reported egregious behavior to someone or something other than her client.” He said the caucus follows Legislative Research Commission policies which are “both strict and clear and provide needed protections for those they cover, which includes partisan and non-partisan employees, as well as third parties in their interactions within LRC.” Legislators and staff are required to review the policies against workplace harassment annually.
Wilkerson added that the caucus has previously sponsored successful legislation “that would have enshrined in law that anyone with ties to the legislature, including lobbyists, would have an official avenue to make complaints and have them handled appropriately.”
‘Nobody should face harassment‘
In response to reporters’ questions Friday morning, Beshear condemned Grossberg’s alleged conduct as “wrong” and reiterated that Grossberg “can’t be a state representative.” The governor added that “nobody should face harassment” in their place of work, in the Kentucky Capitol, and across the commonwealth.
“I want my daughter to grow up in a world free from harassment, I want my son to grow up in a world free from harassment, and these allegations and the alleged conduct — it crossed the line in the first story, it crossed the line in this story. It’s too much,” Beshear said. “(Grossberg) needs to resign.”
When asked if he had heard personally from women who had accused Grossberg of misconduct, Beshear said he wanted to “preserve the confidentiality of any of those conversations that someone had with me.”
The governor said he knows some of the individuals who have made accusations against Grossberg and “I hate that they’ve gone through what they’ve gone through.”
“I hope that people see or hear today that we will listen, that they will be believed, and that no one should use a position of authority to make anyone else feel unsafe or harassed,” the governor said. “Now, it’s important that in a world where we still see far too much conduct that’s just totally unacceptable for people to know that if they choose to speak out, they’ll be heard.”
As for calls to change the Legislative Ethics Code to prevent a lawmaker from engaging in conduct like the incidents Grossberg has been accused of, Beshear said a stronger code is needed as well as stronger enforcement of it.
The House or Senate may removed a state lawmaker with a two-thirds vote of the chamber, according to the Kentucky Constitution.
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Written by McKenna Horsley. Cross-posted from the Kentucky Lantern.
