Senate Democrats have voted to remove Sen. Julian Carroll from his leadership post and called for him to resign altogether after a Louisville cable TV news show aired a salacious report alleging he groped a Frankfort man a decade ago.
The 86-year old Carroll, a former governor, is a well-known political figure in Kentucky. He served in the Kentucky House from 1962-1971, the last three as speaker. He was lieutenant governor from 1972-74 and was governor from 1975-79. He has been in the state Senate since 2005.
Spectrum News Pure Politics, a Louisville-based cable television program, aired an audio recording with the report, purportedly of Carroll propositioning the man.
Carroll told Pure Politics that the allegations were “ridiculous” when one of its reporters confronted him in the hallway of the Capitol Annex.
“It did not happen, and it’s fake to begin with,” Carroll said as he walked away.
Members of the Kentucky Senate’s Democratic Caucus reacted swiftly to the allegations, voting Sunday afternoon to remove Carroll as minority whip.
“The Senate Democratic Caucus calls on Sen. Carroll to resign his Kentucky state Senate seat immediately,” Senate Democrats said in a statement.
The Kentucky Democratic Party issued a separate statement shortly after the story appeared on Saturday night, voicing strong concerns about the allegations in the report.
“While we acknowledge and greatly appreciate Sen. Carroll’s life-long career of public service, we cannot overlook the severity of these allegations and take them seriously,” the statement said.
Carroll couldn’t be reached for comment Sunday afternoon.
