By Carolyn Reid
FALMOUTH — Impeached mayor Sebastian Ernst is off the November ballot.
Chief 18th Circuit Court Judge Jay Delaney ruled Thursday that Ernst cannot run to fill the final two years of his unexpired four-year term.
The ruling did not address Ernst’s lawsuit claiming that impeachment proceedings were conducted unlawfully and should be voided. That decision is still pending with Delaney.
The Falmouth Outlook contacted Ernst’s attorney’s office at Drake Law for comments regarding the ruling and any next steps the firm plans to take regarding that, but the office had not responded as of Monday morning.
Falmouth City Council, with the aid of legal counsel Luke Morgan, had filed a petition June 24 to have Ernst removed from the ballot after he filed to run for his old seat.
The petition was filed in accordance with Kentucky Revised Code 83A.040(9) which states, in part, “No officer so removed shall be eligible to fill the office vacated before the expiration of the term to which originally elected.”
In his decision, Delaney explained his reasons for granting a “temporary injunction,” as it is called:
• If Ernst appeared on the ballot as a candidate for mayor, “an irreparable injury would occur” because the “final judgment (the impeachment) would be rendered completely meaningless…” and could return Ernst “to the office of mayor before the court issued a ruling on appeal.”
(The ruling on the appeal of the impeachment itself is due shortly, according to the judge.)
• Because of the language of KRS 83A.040(9), Delaney explained, “Plaintiff (Ernst) asserts that he was wrongfully impeached and therefore not ineligible for the office, but there is no legal precedent suggested to suggest that Plaintiff could resume the mayorship while the appeal is pending and his impeachment remains in force.”
• Delaney’s last reason for the ruling was to avoid confusion of the voters.
“Were Plaintiff allowed to appear on the November 2024 ballot, it would give voters the impression that a vote for him would restore him to the office of mayor — when, in fact, the only way Plaintiff can legally resume this term as mayor is if his impeachment is overturned by the Court.”
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