LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Other than a quick microphone check, Councilman Anthony Piagentini was silent next to his attorney during Metro Council court on Monday.
Piagentini's attorney, J. Brooken Smith, requested the court reconsider dismissing two counts of misconduct, but the council denied that.
"I have counseled Piagentini to assert his Fifth Amendment right and remain silent throughout the proceedings," attorney Mike Swansburg said on behalf of Piagentini. "Why do we need to go through all this?"
In a surprise turn of events, at the end of Swansburg's opening statements he made a motion for consideration, meaning he wanted to move the council court into executive session to make a final decision regarding the final decision regarding the charges filed against Piagentini.
Chair Pro-Tem Rick Blackwell, taking over for Chair Markus Winkler who has the flu, denied the motion and moved to call the first witness to the stand.
The first witness was Margaret Handmaker. She was hired by former Mayor Greg Fischer to oversee the expenditure of COVID-19 relief funds, and worked closely with Winkler and Piagentini.
Both Piagentini and Winkler were on the workforce development work group at the same time that Piagentini was accused of using his position to land $40 million of the American Rescue Plan grant funds for the nonprofits Louisville Healthcare CEO Council (CEOC) position he eventually accepted.
Handmaker, who dealt with applications with requests for federal funds, said on the stand that she did not remember receiving a proposal from Piagentini for the CEOC.
At the end of the trial, at least 18 members of the council would have to vote for Piagentini to be removed.
Background
In October 2023, the Louisville Metro Ethics Commission found Councilman Anthony Piagentini guilty of six of the seven ethics code violations he was accused of. They recommended he be removed from the council.
Piagentini's charges stemmed from allegations he leveraged his power as a local lawmaker to get a new job.
In 2022, he co-sponsored a proposal to allocate $40 million from the American Rescue Plan to the Healthcare Workforce Innovation Coalition. While he abstained from the final vote, he took a consulting job with the group leading that coalition, the Louisville Healthcare CEO Council, around the same time of the vote.
He appealed the decision in November, claiming the Commission violated his due process rights, arbitrarily exercised their authority by deviating from procedural requirements, and said their findings were not supported by evidence.
Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg terminated a $40 million contract with the Louisville Healthcare CEO Council in the wake of Piagentini's ethics trial.
In a previous statement to WHAS11 News, the Louisville Healthcare CEO Council said it was the grant administrator on behalf of the Healthcare Workforce Innovation Coalition.
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