The Louisville Metro Ethics Commission held hearings this week focused on a former legislative assistant who has accused two officials of sexual harassment and retaliation.
An outside attorney hired by the Ethics Commission oversaw the hearing Monday and Tuesday, where parties to the ethics complaint testified under oath. Shalanna Taylor accused former District 6 Metro Council Member Philip Baker of making inappropriate sexual comments and touching her without her consent. Taylor’s complaint also includes Deputy Mayor David James, who she says urged Baker to fire her out of fear that she would sue.
Both Baker and James denied the allegations in their testimony.
Over about four hours, Taylor detailed the five years she worked as a legislative assistant in Metro Council. Nearly all that time was spent working for James, who stepped down as Metro Council president and the District 6 representative to take a position in Mayor Craig Greenberg’s administration in early 2023.
Taylor testified that Baker started sexually harassing her almost as soon as he was appointed to replace James in Feb. 2023.
“It was like he had to keep putting his hand on my thigh,” Taylor said of the first meeting she had with Baker. “He had to keep holding my hand. He had to just be super close, in my face, leaning forward. It was super uncomfortable.”
In addition to inappropriate touching, Taylor said Baker commented on his own looks and told her that people would assume that they were having a sexual relationship. The harassment was routine, she said.
“He didn’t seem to care that I had a problem with it,” Taylor said.
Taylor reached out to James just weeks after Baker took office. James was not only her former employer. She said they had been friends since she was 15 years old and saw him as a father figure.
Looking at James directly, Taylor testified Monday that she had hoped he would protect her from the harassment. Instead, Taylor said, James pushed Baker to fire her.
In her initial complaint, Taylor said James’ wife, Michelle, told her James pushed Baker to fire her because he believed she was going to file a lawsuit. Taylor made the same allegation in the retaliation lawsuit she eventually filed in Jefferson County Circuit Court.
But this week, Taylor told the hearing officer that James might have had a different reason for allegedly having her fired. She said that when she told James about Baker’s behavior, she also told James about rumors that were circulating about an affair he had.
As his legislative assistant for four years, Taylor said she knew the rumors were true. She said she mentioned it because she wanted to protect him.
“I needed him to straighten up, because you are in a good position right now of authority and power and this does not need to bring you down,” Taylor said. “I was trying to protect my friend, my family.”
Another legislative assistant was set to testify that Baker also sexually harassed her, Taylor’s lawyer said. However, attorney Deborah Campbell Myers, the hearing officer in this case, ruled that the Ethics Commission would not hear testimony from that person because it was irrelevant to Taylor’s ethics complaint.
Baker and James shared their sides of the story with the Ethics Commission. They forcefully denied Taylor’s allegations.
Asked by James’ attorney, Cindy Effinger, whether James ever urged him to fire Taylor, Baker said, “No, no, no and no. No. I just can’t say it enough.”
Baker said he would have never allowed the deputy mayor to tell him how to run his office because he understood the “checks and balances” of local government and the separation between Metro Council and the Mayor’s Office.
In his testimony, Baker said firing Taylor had nothing to do with retaliation. The former Metro Council member said he chose to go in a different direction after a series of issues he had with Taylor’s performance.
He pointed to instances where he believed Taylor allegedly signed off on official documents without his permission. He also accused her of showing up late to work multiple times. Baker fired Taylor in April 2023.
“I felt like I could do better,” he said. “I felt like her vision didn’t align with my vision.”
Baker said he felt like Taylor’s loyalty “lied with the paycheck, not the taxpayers of District 6.”
Speaking about the allegation of sexual harassment, Baker said he did not make bodily contact with Taylor outside of shaking her hand and he never touched her without her consent. Baker’s wife of 17 years, his parents and brothers were all sitting in the audience on Monday, as he told the hearing officer that he wanted to clear his name.
Deputy Mayor James was the last person to testify during the evidentiary hearing.
James told the Ethics Commission that in at least two meetings in early 2023 Taylor told him Baker had been “acting inappropriately.” He said he never urged Baker to fire Taylor. In fact, James said he never talked with Baker about Taylor’s complaints.
Asked why he didn’t confront Baker, James said, “Because she asked me not to.”
Taylor had testified the day before that she never asked James not to get involved.
Like Baker, James said he had his own concerns about Taylor’s performance when she worked for him as a legislative assistant. He said she “would often come in late.”
Under questioning from Taylor’s attorney, though, James said he believed Taylor worked all of the hours she got paid for, she just didn’t come in as early as he wanted.
Following the hearing, attorneys for Taylor, Baker and James will all have the opportunity to file additional arguments and objections with the Ethics Commission. Once the hearing officer makes a final recommendation, commission members will have 30 days to issue a ruling.
If the Ethics Commission finds that Baker or James violated Louisville Metro’s Code of Ethics, they could be subject to a fine of up to $500 per violation. The commission could also recommend James face disciplinary action, up to and including being fired from his job as deputy mayor.
