Yesterday the Kentucky Legislative Ethics Commission voted to clear a former state House lawmaker of three ethics cases.
Women working in the state’s Legislative Research Commission filed the charges of sexually harassing and assaulting three female state employees.
Former Rep. John Arnold was cleared of all three ethics cases when the decision came down in a closed, executive session.
Before the ethics panel, the three women, who filed complaints against Arnold, Cooper and Yolanda Costner and Gloria Morgan, gave sworn testimony.
The women filed their complaints in August of last year.
State law requires five affirmative votes of the nine-member panel, four of which were not present for the Arnold hearing. Commissioner Elmer George was the only member present to vote no.
Arnold, a democrat from Sturgis, is a retired chiropractor and was first elected to the Kentucky House in 1994.
For previous coverage of Rep. John Arnold’s case, click here [4] for the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting.
Photo courtesy Associated Press