Harassment complaint against three Republicans dismissed, but not Hoover’s

The Legislative Ethics Commission dismissed an ethics complaint Tuesday against three Republican lawmakers who entered a $110,000 settlement agreement after they were accused of sexual harassment by a member of their staff.

The complaint against former Speaker of the House Jeff Hoover, R-Jamestown, still stands and the hearing will continue next week.

Throughout the morning, the lawyers representing the four Republican lawmakers made several motions to dismiss the case, only to be rebuffed by the seven-member panel. It wasn’t until they requested a motion on the individual lawmakers that the panel decided to dismiss the charges against Rep. Brian Linder, R-Dry Ridge; Rep. Jim DeCesare, R-Bowling Green; and Rep. Michael Meredith, R-Oakland.

“Basically the decision was that it wasn’t a sufficient complaint against those three,” said Anthony Wilholt, the chairman of the ethics panel. “And that’s why I asked (prosecutor Michael) Malone what I did, you know ‘let’s cut to the chase if you’ve got evidence.’ And they weren’t persuaded that there was enough there.”

Michael Malone, the prosecutor on the complaint, said he didn’t feel there was sufficient evidence against DeCesare. He felt had evidence to present against Meredith and Linder.

The panel’s decision comes amid a nationwide movement of women coming forward to report sexual misconduct. The four men identified in the complaint are among seven lawmakers who have been accused of sexual misconduct in the Kentucky General Assembly since July.

The complaint was filed by Democratic Rep. Jim Wayne, of Louisville, following newspaper reports about the settlement and the subsequent announcement that Hoover would step down as Speaker of the House, but would not resign from office.

In his testimony Tuesday, Wayne said he had never had any direct contact with the victim and was relying purely on information made public by the press.

Over the course of the sexual harassment allegations, there had been little information about the accusations against Meredith, DeCesare and Linder. But in the hearing, it was revealed that DeCesare sent a text message inviting the accuser over after he had finished work for the day. Meredith allegedly made a vulgar comment about the accuser in the summer of 2016, according to Leslie Vose, the attorney for the two Representatives. And Kerry Harvey, Linder’s attorney, said Linder had one interaction with the accuser by text.

“The vast majority of (the complaint) has no relationship to Representative Linder, Meredith and Decesare,” Harvey said.

All three declined to comment after the hearing and the Herald-Leader is not identifying the accuser because she is an alleged victim of sexual harassment.

While the hearing mostly dealt with whether to dismiss the complaint against the lawmakers, it also revealed details about the settlement for the first time since the agreement was reached.

The four Republican lawmakers split the cost of $110,000 agreement, but it was not evenly divided between the four of them. The Herald-Leader previously reported that Hoover took out a loan for $60,000 the day after he resigned from his leadership post, but he said it was “absolutely not” what he paid.

The agreement also prevented the accuser from suing the LRC, the Republican Party of Kentucky and the House Republican Caucus Campaign Committee.

The panel did not take up a motion to dismiss the case against Hoover and is expected to hear witness testimony on his case next Tuesday.

This story was originally published April 3, 2018 at 5:12 PM with the headline "Harassment complaint against three Republicans dismissed, but not Hoover’s."