This is a Kentucky Lantern story republished under Creative Commons. See more from Kentucky Lantern here.
FRANKFORT — Rep. Daniel Grossberg, a Louisville Democrat, accused in 2024 of inappropriate behavior towards women, has agreed to pay $2,000 in fines to the Kentucky Legislative Ethics Commission.
After the commission met privately for nearly two hours Monday, Grossberg accepted and the commission voted to approve an agreed order and public reprimand of the representative stemming from complaints filed by former House Democratic leaders and by a Democratic advocate.
Grossberg, who represents the 30th House district, has previously faced calls from within his party to resign from office after the Lexington Herald-Leader made the allegations of inappropriate behavior towards women public in 2024. Several Democratic leaders renewed those calls for Grossberg to resign Monday afternoon.
Monday was set to be the first time the commission would publicly hear matters related to Grossberg, but that did not happen because of the agreement reached.
“I’m relieved that after 18 long months, the ethics commission has taken my side on its finding of facts,” Grossberg told reporters after the meeting. “I feel vindicated that there was no harassment, assault or abuse. At worst, there was one awkward conversation related to legislative policy that may have unintentionally crossed the lines.”
The current legislative code of ethics does not explicitly bar sexual harassment by lawmakers, legislative agents or legislative branch employees — an omission the ethics commission has urged lawmakers to correct.
Three women in Kentucky Democratic politics who had told the Herald-Leader about their allegations — Lexington Fayette Urban County Council member Emma Curtis, Kentucky Young Democrats President Allison Wiseman and former Democratic House candidate Sarah Ritter — attended the Monday meeting planning to publicly testify about their experiences with Grossberg.
While reporters interviewed Grossberg after the meeting, the women shouted at him from across the room asking questions like: “You’re really going to say that with me standing right here?”
According to the agreed order, Grossberg must pay two $1,000 fines for two of three charges that the commission previously found it had “probable cause” to investigate further.
The first charge related to a discussion between Grossberg and an advocate about “gender transition policy” in his office. The order says Grossberg, while he was drinking alcohol, asked the advocate to “describe her own gender experience,” the questions “were personal in nature” and the advocate alleged that they were inappropriate.
“(Grossberg) now recognizes his inappropriate behavior in that situation and is actively engaged in counseling, therapy and skills training to ensure that this behavior is not repeated,” the order says.
The second charge that resulted in a fine says that Grossberg was alleged to have referred to his identity or office while making “intimidating statements to a business” as he was leaving the premises. The order says Grossberg “denies misconduct but stipulates that there may be sufficient evidence to find” a violation of state legislative ethics law.
A third charge, for which the order says “there is not sufficient evidence to find a violation,” stems from allegations made in a complaint filed by former House Democratic leaders Reps. Derrick Graham, Cherlynn Stevenson and Rachel Roberts that said Grossberg had offered a potential donor to House Democrats access to a state catering vendor list. The order says the commission recognizes that no campaign contribution was received in response to this request and that Grossberg and the business owner “deny that a benefit was offered in exchange for a donation” and Grossberg was simply trying to find out how vendors were placed on the list and give the information to the business owner.
After the order had been approved, Grossberg told the commission that he appreciated being able to work out an agreement but “I wish that it had been many months earlier.”
David Nicholas, the chairman of the commission, said in response that “there were a number of things we had to get through” and the matter was “not typical” of the commission’s usual proceedings.
“We had a number of complaints — some of which were a violation of the ethics law, some that weren’t,” Nicholas said.
Grossberg and his attorney, Anna Whites, were not in the commission’s meeting room the entire executive session, but briefly went into the room a couple of times before the commission returned to public discussion and unanimously agreed on the order.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Curtis, Wiseman and Ritter said that they had all wanted to testify publicly. Ritter read out part of her prepared testimony about her experiences with Grossberg.
“I did not feel safe refusing him. I did not feel safe leaving. I did not feel safe fully asserting boundaries,” she said. I’m testifying today because these actions cause lasting, physical and psychological harm, and because no one, especially someone elected to represent their neighbors, should be permitted to behave this way without accountability.”
Last year, the commission held an hours-long closed door meeting which included appearances by Grossberg and his lawyers, women who work in politics and workers from a Louisville strip club. The commission later voted to find “probable cause” that Grossberg had committed ethics violations, prompting the public hearing.
Grossberg has been expelled from the House Democratic Caucus and faces calls from within his party to resign his legislative seat, including from Gov. Andy Beshear. The 2024 allegations that he behaved inappropriately toward women came to light in reporting by the Lexington Herald-Leader. In a separate investigation, the Legislative Research Commission questioned women about inappropriate text messages sent to them by Grossberg. Later, the strip club, Foxys Gentlemen’s Club, told the Herald-Leader it banned Grossberg for life after he inappropriately touched a dancer.
This year, three Democrats are challenging Grossberg in the May primary election. They are Jefferson County Public Schools teacher Cassie Lyles, former JCPS teacher and political adviser Max Morley and Mitra Subedi, who narrowly lost the 2024 primary to Grossberg by 50 votes before the allegations were made public. Grossberg faced no Republican candidate in the 2024 general election.
“I think our caucus and our party as a whole has done a very good job alienating him, and it is my hope that they continue doing so,” Wiseman said.
Current House Democratic leaders Floor Leader Pamela Stevenson, Caucus Chair Lindsey Burke, and Caucus Whip Joshua Watkins, said in an afternoon statement that “a public reprimand is a consequence for conduct that violated ethical standards” and renewed their call on Grossberg to resign from office. They added that elected officials are not “entitled to use their position in ways that undermine the public trust.”
“We recognize that speaking up about inappropriate conduct takes courage. Victims deserve to be heard and taken seriously,” the leaders said. “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.”
The Legislative Ethics Commission previously recommended that state lawmakers define and prohibit sexual harassment as ethical misconduct by legislators, legislative agents and legislative branch employees.The three ways the commission had said Grossberg potentially violated the state ethics code did not include sexual harassment. Last week, Democratic Whip Sen. Cassie Chambers Armstrong filed Senate Bill 143 to define sexual harassment in the legislative ethics code.
Kentucky Democratic Party Chairman Colmon Elridge said Grossberg “unfit to serve and he should resign immediately” in a statement.
“The General Assembly should pass SB 143 to add sexual harassment to the ethics code,” Elridge continued. “And Republican leadership should remove him from his committee assignments instead of continuing to enable his behavior.”
This story has been updated with additional comments.