The Kentucky House of Representatives ad hoc committee, considering the various impeachment petitions filed this session, moved on February 12 to dismiss the petition against Rep. Robert Goforth. The committee based this decision on the testimony of two law professors that said that legislative members may not be impeached, but only expelled.
Today, the petitioners for the Goforth impeachment have filed a motion to “supplement and correct the record.” Their primary objection is that the two professors completely glossed over the powers of the House to discipline its members, and that the committee, led by chair Jason Nemes, erred in dismissing the petition.
Specifically, the motion notes that the original petition asked for “recognition, intervention and effective counseling and prevention of domestic violence.” This request was based on the charge against Goforth that he strangled his wife with a computer cable and then tied her up. By dismissing the petition without taking action, Nemes and the committee failed to take what actions they could have taken to deal with the charges.
From the motion:
But the Professors are in error because they ignore the power of the House to discipline its own members. The House is not limited to choosing between expelling a member or taking no action, and any legal opinion to the contrary is fundamentally flawed. ALL legislative chambers have the inherent power to discipline members, completely apart from the power to “expel,” and that power should be exercised here.
And more from the motion:
The House certainly has the power to discipline Robert Goforth, and this IC should recommend action in any report it may make to the full House. The Professors wrongly insist that Goforth can only be “expelled” or “removed” which ignores the obvious solution: The IC should recommend mandatory counseling for the protection of the Goforth family and the public.
The motion also notes that the meetings of the impeachment committee have been held in secret, AND that the petitioners and their counsel were not notified ahead of time about the upcoming testimony of the two professors. From the motion:
The IC’s continual skirting of Open Meetings requirements has allowed unsound advice to guide this Committee. Had the Chair simply given notice of the testimony and afforded Petitioners an opportunity to be heard, the glaring errors in the Professors’ testimony would have been immediately corrected. Instead, the Chair rushed to dismiss the Petition based upon the untested opinions of his selected experts. This is a disservice to the House.
Finally, the motion from the Goforth petitioners asks that the impeachment committee recommend to the full house that Rep. Goforth be required to attend mandatory domestic violence counseling. Or, “the IC may recommend in its report to the full House that House Leadership take appropriate action to protect the mental health of its members and the safety of their families.”
The complete motion, as well as a supplemental exhibit, are included below.
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