Year after LRC scandal, report still unreleased

FRANKFORT, Ky. – One year ago this month sexual harassment complaints against state Rep. John Arnold triggered the resignations of both Arnold from the Kentucky House and Robert Sherman from his long-held post as director of the legislative staff.

And part of the effort by legislative leaders to respond to the controversy was to contract with a national legislative organization to review operations of the legislative staff.

That group, the National Conference of State Legislatures, issued findings in April. But in response to an Open Records Act request from The Courier-Journal, the Legislative Research Commission declined to release that report last week because it is an unfinished "draft" not required to be disclosed under the Kentucky Open Records Act.

Rep. Tom Riner, a Louisville Democrat who advised the women staffers who complained about Arnold, wants the report — even if it is a draft — released now.

"I believe the reason this work hasn't been finished and released is a stalling tactic to get past the election," Riner said in an interview Friday. "And whether my suspicion is accurate or not, I find this troubling because it's just not the duty of LRC to keep knowledge from the public."

He said he filed his own open-records request for the report on Friday afternoon.

The two top legislative leaders, House Speaker Greg Stumbo, a Prestonsburg Democrat, and Senate President Robert Stivers, a Manchester Republican, did not return return phone messages on Friday seeking a response to Riner.

But David Fleenor, general counsel for Stivers' office, said the only reason the report has not been released is that "it's not a final document. ... I don't think anybody ever viewed that document as a final document."

Legislative leaders, Fleenor said, responded to the draft with requests for additional research by the national conference. And he said the final report will be released when it is finished.

But Riner said he expects the April draft contains important findings about how the legislative staff operates relative to its counterparts in other states. And even though Stumbo and Stivers are of opposite political parties, Riner said, "I believe that for some reason, maybe different reasons, they do not want this out before the election."

And it appears they will not have to. A final report would have to be accepted by the LRC, which is comprised of all 16 legislative leaders of both chambers and both political parties. The LRC does not have a meeting scheduled for October.

In the summer of 2013, three women on the legislative staff accused Arnold, a Union County Democrat, of sexual harassment and said the legislative staff administrators had not done enough to protect them from Arnold. Though they denied the charges, both Arnold and Sherman resigned within weeks.

And later last year the LRC voted to contract with the national legislative conference for $42,410 to review LRC staff operations and assist in the search for a new staff director.

The conference is the leading national association of state legislatures, with offices in Denver and Washington, and has done numerous similar studies for other states.

Brian Weberg, director of the conference's Legislative management Program, said in an email that the work completed in April was a draft. He said it is the conference's standard procedure to deliver a draft report. "This allows the client to review our facts and comment on the content of the report," he said. "We will then adjust the data or amend content if we believe it is warranted before issuing a final report."

He said the conference does not comment on the content of a report until it is final. But he said the draft contains findings and that the conference fullfilled the contract goals of reviewing operations of the Kentucky legislative staff and comparing them with other states.

Reporter Tom Loftus can be reached at (502) 875-5136. Follow him on Twitter at @TomLoftus_CJ.