The chairman of an ethics watchdog group is questioning whether Louisville Metro Councilman Dan Johnson, D-21, should serve as a juror on fellow council member Barbara Shanklin’s removal trial.
The 20-member council court convened earlier this week to schedule a hearing after the Ethics Commission ruled Shanklin violated five provisions of the city’s code of ethics.
City lawmakers will sit as a jury to decide whether to oust Shanklin in a trial beginning July 23.
Last September, however, Shanklin’s attorney Aubrey Williams entered an affidavit alleging Johnson told him the commission was prejudiced against his client, and mishandled the proceedings.
"Johnson called ... and informed me that his wife’s sister’s husband was a friend of a certain Commission member, who had told the friend that the commissioners were out to get Barbara Shanklin," Williams wrote. "That is to say that they had made up their minds to rule against her. He stated that he did not think they were going to be fair to her when the hearing got underway."
Common Cause of Kentucky Chairman Richard Beliles filed the initial ethics complaint against Shanklin. He says Johnson’s prior interference in the case raises concerns if the south Louisville Democrat can adequately serve on the jury.
"It’s really important that the public has confidence in whatever jury. So from that standpoint, reading about and hearing about the questions about Metro Councilman Dan Johnson, it would seem to me that perhaps he should consider recusing himself from that jury," he says.
