KY Democrats renew calls for Rep. Grossberg resignation after ethics settlement
Key Democrats continued their calls Monday for state Rep. Daniel Grossberg to resign over his behavior toward women.
Grossberg, a Louisville Democrat who has held office since winning election in 2022, settled with the Kentucky Legislative Ethics Commission, accepting a fine of $2,000 and public reprimands moments before a scheduled ethics hearing into charges brought against him by the commission.
In a lengthy statement, the House Democratic leadership doubled down on their calls for him to leave office. The caucus expelled Grossberg in 2024.
Pushing back on Grossberg’s argument that the settlement exonerated him, they emphasized that the commission’s actions amounted to “a consequence for conduct that violated ethical standards.”
“From the beginning, the House Democratic Caucus was clear that Rep. Grossberg’s conduct violated the standards expected of our members. He was removed from the House Democratic Caucus after his conduct violated our standards, and today’s agreement does not change that,” they wrote.
“We call on Rep. Grossberg to resign from his seat in the Kentucky House of Representatives.”
Grossberg has said he intends to keep serving and is running for reelection against several Democrats in the May primary for the nomination to his heavily Democratic district.
A statement from Kentucky Democratic Party Chair Colmon Elridge reiterated House leadership’s point.
“Representative Grossberg is unfit to serve and he should resign immediately. The General Assembly should pass SB 143 to add sexual harassment to the ethics code,” Elridge said, referring to a Senate bill to make sexual harassment ethical misconduct for lawmakers.
“And Republican leadership should remove him from his committee assignments instead of continuing to enable his behavior,” he added
In a brief interview, Louisville Democratic Party Chair Logan Gatti said the local party “sticks by our call for him to resign,” and was very supportive of the bill, which was filed by Sen. Cassie Chambers Armstrong, D-Louisville.
The two counts for which the commission reprimanded and fined Grossberg are:
- Intimidation of a Louisville strip club that banned him for life after he allegedly groped a dancer. The order states that Grossberg denies it, “but stipulates there may be sufficient evidence to find a statutory violation.”
- His 2023 conduct toward Emma Curtis, now a Lexington city councilwoman, who says the behavior was sexual harassment. The agreement states that Grossberg “may have violated” the ethics code and laws around legislators’ standards of conduct, and noted that Grossberg “is actively engaged in counseling, therapy and skills training to ensure his behavior is not repeated.”
Spokespeople for Gov. Andy Beshear and Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman have yet to respond to questions on whether they stick by their previous calls for Grossberg to resign, which were issued shortly after 2024 Herald-Leader reports.
