The Kentucky General Assembly cannot withhold records related to a sexual harassment complaint filed against a state lawmaker, the Kentucky Court of Appeals ruled Friday.
The appeals court said the Open Records Act entitles the Herald-Leader to view state records related to the complaint that a legislative staffer made in 2015 against former state Rep. Jim Stewart III, R-Flat Lick, and any investigations that resulted. The Herald-Leader agreed for the staffer’s name to be redacted.
The Legislative Research Commission, comprised of House and Senate leaders, has fought the Herald-Leader’s open records request in court for four years to keep the case private. In 2021, the legislature rewrote state law to give itself — rather than the courts — the final word on what legislative branch records are shared with the public.
However, state law in 2018, when the Herald-Leader filed its records request, allowed for open records denials to be appealed from the LRC to the courts, the appeals court said. Lawmakers can’t retroactively use their new law to conceal documents that were properly decided as public at the time, the appeals court said.
Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd ruled for the Herald-Leader in 2020 and also granted the newspaper’s request to have its legal fees reimbursed by the LRC, a position the appeals court upheld Friday.
Stewart, who left office at the end of 2020, was accused of harassing a legislative staffer in a complaint that was lodged with the LRC, according to an internal House Republican memo obtained by the Herald-Leader.
Allegations of improper sexual behavior were made against at least a half-dozen Kentucky legislators around the same period, including former House Speaker Jeff Hoover, R-Jamestown, who resigned his leadership post as a result.
This story was originally published February 04, 2022 2:55 PM.
