Date: 12-04-2017
A Kentucky House Republican employee alleges in a lawsuit that she was retaliated against for reporting an “inappropriate sexual relationship” between then-House Speaker Jeff Hoover and a woman in his office and that GOP leaders used money from “prominent campaign donors” to secretly settle the woman’s sexual harassment claim.
Communications Director Daisy Olivo says in her whistleblower lawsuit filed Monday in Franklin Circuit Court that she had her duties taken away after disclosing the details of the relationship to the Legislative Research Commission’s general counsel and human resources director, and that she has faced ongoing retaliation.
Olivo’s lawsuit contradicts Hoover and investigators retained by House leadership about the nature of the relationship and how the settlement was paid.
The woman who accused Hoover of sexual harassment shared a timeline with Olivo of her “physical, sexual encounters” with Hoover, as well as three years’ worth of text messages with him, according to the lawsuit.
Claims made in a lawsuit represent only one side of the case.
Hoover, a Jamestown Republican, admitted making mistakes but denied any sexual relations or harassment when he resigned as speaker.
His apology and resignation came four days after Courier Journal broke news that Hoover had entered into a secret settlement with a woman who worked on his staff.
“… As inappropriate as those text messages were, I want 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,” Hoover said at a hastily called news conference Nov. 5.
An investigation report released Friday by the Middleton Reutlinger law firm retained by House leadership said investigators were unaware of any allegation of “an inappropriate physical, sexual relationship” involving any of the parties in the lawsuit.
It also said current and former staff members reported working conditions free from “the taint of any sexual material or other inappropriate content.”
Additionally, the report found no public or other inappropriate funds were used by Hoover or others named in the settlement. It stressed that some key witnesses declined to be interviewed and therefore recommended it be continued by the Legislative Ethics Commission, which has the power to subpoena documents.
Part of House Speaker Pro Tem David Osborne’s complaint sent to the ethics commission asks the commission to investigate whether there was any violation of the Kentucky Code of Legislative Ethics. Two sections in particular prohibit lawmakers from obtaining financial gain through their official position and from knowingly accepting compensation for performance of legislative duties.
Olivo’s lawsuit explicitly states that the staff member who accused Hoover told Olivo that the settlement was paid “off the public record with private funds pooled from prominent campaign donors.”
Hoover and the three other House Republicans who were parties to the settlement – Reps. Jim DeCesare of Rockfield, Brian Linder of Dry Ridge and Michael Meredith of Brownsville – remain in office. The other lawmakers have largely avoided public comment on the matter, and none has spoken with Courier Journal.
Hoover’s chief of staff, Ginger Wills, is also named in the settlement. She, too, has declined repeated requests for comment from Courier Journal reporters.
Olivo reported the relationship between Hoover and the staffer to the Legislative Research Commission’s general counsel and human resources director on Nov. 1, the lawsuit said.
The next day, Wills sent Olivo an email relieving her of her job handling media inquiries.
The email “effectively eliminated Plaintiff’s job duties, as she was the Communications director and in charge of media relations.” Since then, the lawsuit says, Olivo has been ostracized from her job duties and subject to retaliatory actions.
Those actions include attempts at intimidation and lack of cooperation from other staff members within the legislature.
The Middleton Reutlinger report noted significant divisions within the Republican staff but attributed them to “political factions, personality issues and other causes.”
Bevin calls on Ky. House to remove lawmakers involved in secret sexual harassment deal
FRANKFORT, Ky. — Gov. Matt Bevin called on the Kentucky House to “censure and remove” lawmakers involved in a secret sexual harassment settlement if they continue to ignore his demands that they resign from the Legislature.
Calling the scandal “cancer in our legislative body,” the governor increased pressure on lawmakers in forceful remarks made at Saturday’s Republican State Central Committee meeting in Frankfort.
“The reality is this, there has been a compromise in integrity, a compromise in moral authority, a compromise in judgment,” Bevin said. “… I expect this party to condemn this. I expect everyone in Kentucky to condemn this, frankly.”
Courier Journal reported last month that then-House Speaker Jeff Hoover had signed a confidential settlement with a woman on his staff who accused him of sexual harassment. The settlement was also signed by three other House Republicans — Reps. Jim DeCesare of Rockfield, Brian Linder of Dry Ridge and Michael Meredith of Brownsville — as well as Hoover’s chief of staff Ginger Wills.
Hoover, a Jamestown Republican, resigned from his role as speaker of the House, but did not step down as a state representative.
That move, Bevin said Saturday, is not sufficient.
“It is as if we have identified cancer in a body, and have said, ‘Well now that we’ve identified it, as long as we know it’s there, it’s OK if it stays and metastasizes,'” Bevin said Saturday. “No, it’s not. It needs to be removed.”
The committee went on to pass unanimously a resolution condemning sexual harassment, said Tres Watson, a spokesman for the Republican Party of Kentucky.
“Sexual harassment is a morally, ethically, and professionally unaccepted form of behavior,” it read in part. “… No man or woman should be subjected to behavior that makes them feel uncomfortable in a workplace environment.”
The committee did not, however, approve an amendment proposed by Bevin that would have called for the resignation of anyone who entered into a financial settlement of sexual harassment claims, Watson said. The Associated Press later reported the amendment failed by a vote of 48-38.
In Hoover’s remarks on the day of his resignation from leadership, he admitted sending inappropriate messages to the woman, but said it was consensual and denied harassing anyone. The other lawmakers were stripped from any committee leadership roles, but have not resigned or, for the most part, publicly addressed their roles in the settlement.
On Saturday, Bevin asked once again that those involved remove themselves from the Legislature.
And, if they do not, “it is the responsibility of the House to censure and remove these people,” he said to applause from fellow Republicans who had gathered from around the state.
A preliminary investigation conducted by the Middleton Reutlinger law firm for the House leadership team, released in a report Friday, confirmed Hoover and three other House Republicans had signed the secret settlement, but noted all involved had declined to discuss details of the settlement or provide documents or emails to investigators.
The report recommended the investigation be turned over to the Legislative Ethics Commission, which has the power to subpoena documents and witnesses.
Bevin said Saturday that, even without full details, he knew “enough,” citing the lawmakers’ signatures on the settlement and payment of an undisclosed amount to “keep whatever it is that they did quiet.”
“And they expect to continue to serve in this town, under the mantle of this party, representing the people of this state — and act as if nothing happened. That’s wrong,” he said.
The House’s current presiding officer, Speaker Pro Tem David Osborne, acknowledged the obligation the House has to take “necessary” actions, but appeared to signal he’d wait for the recommendations provided by the Legislative Ethics Commission.
He signed documents to refer the investigation to the ethics commission Friday night, he said, adding he was confident the commission would “get the documents” and “find out the facts.”
“And with those facts, the Legislative Ethics Commission carries with it the ability to fine, it carries with it the ability to refer for criminal prosecution, it has the mandate to … recommend to us whether or not we censure or expel these members,” Osborne said, adding that he hopes it will move “quickly and swiftly” to get leadership that information.
State GOP chairman Mac Brown also addressed the subject in his remarks Saturday, calling for deliberate decisions rather than emotional responses “based on speculation, assumptions or unsubstantiated accusations.”
In the report released Friday, investigators said that after interviewing 40 people, they found no evidence of any “sexually charged atmosphere” within House leadership offices — a statement Bevin suggested was laughable in his remarks Saturday.
“The idea … that there’s no cultural problem, that everybody who’s there says we don’t have a cultural problem? Baloney,” Bevin said. “If we think it’s not a (problem) and if we think we can duck this, shame on us. Shame on us as a party, shame on us as the people of Kentucky, shame on us as Americans.”
By Darcy Costello
Louisville Courier Journal