12/05/2025
Our client, Louisville Metro Ethics Commission, announced the attached today:
The Louisville Metro Ethics Commission is announcing that it will be represented on a plenary panel next week, on the floor of the annual conference of the international Council on Governmental Ethics Law. The panel session, entitled “Independence Under Fire: How to Protect Ethics Commissions from Political Interference in Challenging Times,” will be a presentation and discussion of the experiences of political attacks on the independence of state and local ethics commission, and will feature the experience of Louisville’s Ethics Commission, alongside the District of Columbia Board of Ethics and the North Dakota state Ethics Commission. The panel will be moderated by the Director of the Campaign Legal Center, along with law professor Richard Briffault of Columbia Law School. The Campaign Legal Center has, for two years, published Threat Assessment recent of the nationwide trend toward political attacks on the independence of federal, state and municipal ethics enforcement bodies. See 2024 Threat Assessment Report | Campaign Legal Center. The concerning trend has been covered by entities like ProPublica, Ethics Reform Legislation Failed to Pass Several Statehouses in 2025 — ProPublica.
The experience of the Louisville Metro Ethics Commission will center on the issues presented in recent litigation filed by the Commission earlier this summer in Jefferson Circuit Court, Louisville Metro Ethics Commission v. Louisville/Jeff. Co. Metro Govt., 25-CI-6941, in which Judge Ann Bailey Smith recently entered injunctive relief against Metro Government on behalf of the Ethics Commission; and the previous case Louisville Metro Ethics Commission v. O’Connell et al, 23-CI-6214. See Ethics Commission Restraining Order | LouisvilleKY.gov. The Louisville experience has been described as an “existential threat” to the independence of the Ethics Commission.
The Council on Government Ethics Laws is an international organization of some 200 individual national, state and local ethics commissions from across Canada and the United States, but including member organizations from Asia, South America, Central America, Australia, New Zealand, Europe and Africa. This year’s annual conference is in Atlanta from December 7 to December 10, 2025. The presentation by the Louisville Metro Ethics Commission before the COGEL membership will occur on Tuesday, December 9, 2025 at 3:50 PM at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis, 265 Peachtree Center Avenue, Atlanta GA 30303. Members of the media who wish to attend and cover the event should visit the Conference Registration Booth and show their press credential for complimentary entry to the session.
The Louisville Metro Ethics Commission is an independent 7-person board of volunteer commissioners, unaffiliated with Metro Government, tasked with enforcement of the Louisville Metro Ethics Code who are “chosen by virtue of their known and consistent reputation for integrity and their knowledge of local government affairs,” appointed by the Mayor and approved by Metro Council. Current Commissioners are Chair Craig Dilger, Vice-Chair William Schreck, Laura Douglas, Kelli Morris, Austin Hatfield, Krsna Tibbs and Ron Aslam. The Ethics Commission Legal Counsel is F. Todd Lewis. The Commission meets monthly in public session at 444 S. 5th Street on third Thursdays at 3:00 PM. See Ethics Commission Meeting Dates | LouisvilleKY.gov
