Louisville mayor's wife repeatedly turned to city worker for social media help, texts show

Pushing back in December against an ethics complaint alleging the role of Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg’s wife in his administration violated the city’s nepotism rules, an attorney for Greenberg said Mayor’s Office staff “intermittently interact with [Greenberg’s wife] Rachel regarding her volunteer service, just like paid staff across Louisville Metro Government often interact with other volunteers.”

Text messages obtained by The Courier Journal under Kentucky’s open records law, however, show a Communications Department staffer was frequently called upon by Rachel Greenberg to assist her with her Instagram account by often creating and providing content and offering advice. The texts also show Rachel Greenberg — described by the administration as a volunteer who assists on "Mayoral initiatives" — instructed the staffer to edit posts on the mayor’s Instagram account and, on at least one occasion, delete a post from one of the mayor’s social media accounts.

Last September, two anonymous sources told The Courier Journal the mayor's wife had a Metro Hall office, an @louisvilleky.gov email address and gave orders to staffers. Ethics experts told the paper that arrangement might violate the city's ethics rules, which the administration denies.

The Courier Journal obtained 696 messages Wednesday after filing an open records request on Feb. 19 for texts between Rachel Greenberg and the staffer regarding the first lady and the mayor's social media accounts. The request was filed following allegations in a February lawsuit that Rachel Greenberg gave Communications Department staff direct orders and texted one staffer "at all hours" regarding social media.

In a statement, Mayor’s Office Communications Director Scottie Ellis — the supervisor of the staffer who Rachel Greenberg texted — said since starting her role on Jan. 2 of this year, she has been “aware of, and approved of photos and videos being provided by team members to the First Lady when she attends city or community events.”

Ellis added: “The First Lady’s social media helps amplify important work being done throughout Louisville and the First Lady posts, creates copy and edits video for her account.”

Later, speaking to The Courier Journal, Ellis said no other Metro Government volunteers interact with her Communications Department staff.

On at least 23 occasions between March 1, 2023, and Jan. 20 of this year, Rachel Greenberg asked the staffer to provide her with photos or videos, the text messages show.

“Will you send me videos or pics you like for my instagram?” Rachel Greenberg texted Nico Phillips, a Mayor’s Office communications staffer, on July 12. “Don’t worry about editing them.”

Within a minute, Phillips responded “Yes! One moment.”

On Aug. 16, Rachel Greenberg texted Phillips saying: “Are you going to worldfest on Labor Day Monday? If so can you take some pics of me around a booth or with people so I can put in brochure I am working on.”

The next day, Rachel Greenberg texted again saying “I need to add worldfest ones for project I am working on. Will you take one of me and Craig Monday at worldfest?”

Phillips — whose name was saved in Rachel Greenberg’s phone alongside the word “Babysittrt” —  agreed to both requests.

Ellis said Phillips was, in the past, a babysitter for the Greenbergs, who have two sons who are currently in college.

Phillips has worked several jobs in social media and digital communications, including as deputy digital director for Charles Booker during his senate run. Phillips did not respond to a request for comment.

A little more than a week after the World Fest requests, on a Saturday, Phillips messaged Rachel Greenberg to ensure she received more content.

“Did you get the videos I sent?” Phillips texted. “Wales has the pics. I emailed him a couple hours ago asking him to tell me when they’re on the portal, I’m almost home and I forgot my work phone with my email so I’ll check as soon as I get back.”

A minute later, Rachel Greenberg responded.

“I forgot work computer at work so I can’t access [Wales] either,” she wrote. “If there are ones you don’t post but like send them on and I will add.”

Rachel Greenberg has a city-issued computer, according to an internal memo obtained by The Courier Journal last year. The laptop is “solely to check and respond to emails sent to her louisvilleky.gov email address” according to the motion to dismiss.

Mayor's wife asked staffer to edit, delete posts on mayor's accounts

At other times, Rachel Greenberg appeared to ask Phillips to edit, and on one occasion delete, social media posts on the mayor’s accounts.

On Jan. 12 of this year, after Rachel Greenberg visited Shacklette Elementary school, Phillips texted: “This was the copy for your jcps tweet. Can you let me know how to revise? Showing up for our kids is what it’s all about. Loved seeing Rachel and other moms from across Louisville take part in a flash mom greeting this morning at Shackleton Elementary! @JCPSKY.”

One minute later, Rachel Greenberg texted back: “Can you take down the post and I will send you copy.”

The Courier Journal was unable to find a tweet or Instagram post by the mayor about his wife’s visit to Shacklette Elementary, although Rachel Greenberg posted on Instagram about visiting the school on Jan. 11.

Ellis said a January Instagram post on the mayor’s account was deleted “seconds after it went live” due to a misspelling of the school’s name and tagging the wrong organization. She added the mayor’s wife alerted them to the mistake.

On July 12, Rachel Greenberg asked Phillips to edit a post on the mayor’s Instagram account, writing: “Can you please edit the post and tag Akoy and I would rather be reading? Thanks.”

In total, Rachel Greenberg asked Phillips to edit posts on at least four occasions according to a review of the text messages by The Courier Journal.

Rachel Greenberg also turned to Phillips for help in getting her Instagram account verified.

“How do I get denied so much for verification?” the mayor’s wife texted Phillips at 9:46 p.m. on March 23, 2023.

“I think you wrote your friend?” Rachel Greenberg wrote minutes later seemingly referencing a friend of Phillips’ who worked at Instagram’s parent company, Meta.

Phillips responded with a screenshot of a conversation, seemingly with a Meta employee who said they had “escalated” Rachel Greenberg’s request internally, but that it was again denied. They recommended growing the account’s follower base and consistently posting over the next month.

Later, in April, Phillips messaged Rachel Greenberg that she had a Zoom meeting with a “Meta woman.”

“Following up after your meeting. What did she say regarding verification?” Rachel Greenberg texted several days later on April 28.

By the end of May, after Phillips gave Rachel Greenberg an update about her verification status, Rachel Greenberg said she no longer cared about being verified. As of the date of this writing, Rachel Greenberg’s Instagram does not have a verification checkmark.

Texts follow complaints over role of mayor's wife

The role of the mayor’s wife in his administration was central to an ethics complaint filed last October that was solely based on Courier Journal reporting, based on anonymous sources, that Rachel Greenberg had a Metro Hall office, a city-issued @louisvilleky.gov email address and gave orders to staffers.

In December, an attorney for the mayor filed a motion to dismiss the complaint, saying The Courier Journal did “not accurately state the facts” about his wife’s role and his office’s intern hiring practices.

In the motion to dismiss, the mayor’s attorney said Mayor’s Office staff “intermittently” interacted with Rachel Greenberg “just like” city government staff “often interact with other volunteers.”

“They provide assistance only to the extent that it would not interfere with their daily workload assigned by their direct supervisors, with the permission of such supervisors,” attorney Amy Cubbage wrote.

Additionally, Cubbage wrote no “staff or individuals report” to Rachel Greenberg.

The ethics complaint was followed by a lawsuit filed in February by former Communications Department staffer Samantha Ricketts against the Louisville Metro Government. In it, Ricketts alleges she was wrongfully terminated after raising concerns about Rachel Greenberg giving her “direct orders.”

A timeline written by Ricketts that was included in the lawsuit includes references to Phillips.

“Then Nico says Rachel and the Mayor's sons text her at all hours giving her opinions and direction on the Mayor's social media accounts,” Ricketts alleges in an entry dated July 5, 2023. “She voices that she is overwhelmed at their unreasonable expectations and is working hours of overtime (unpaid) every week to try to appease them.”

In addition to Phillips helping out Rachel Greenberg with Instagram, a college student listed as a SummerWorks intern assigned to “Mayor’s Office/First Lady” in documents obtained by The Courier Journal wrote on LinkedIn that in their role as “Social Media Manager and Project Intern,” they “Assisted the First Lady of Louisville with content and helped develop new city programs.” They wrote that the position lasted from July to September of last year.

In November, Mayor’s Office spokesman Kevin Trager wrote The Courier Journal saying the intern was included in a “preliminary list” and that they did not take part in the SummerWorks program. Instead, he said, they “shadowed” the mayor and his wife “a handful of times.”

The college student did not respond to LinkedIn messages sent by The Courier Journal.

In December, the administration said a second Metro Hall intern who listed her summer job as “Special Assistant to the First Lady” at “Louisville City Hall” did not have that title and had made it up out of “youthful zeal.”

On Monday, Ellis, who started working at Metro Hall in January, said she was unaware of any interns reporting to Greenberg’s wife in the past.

The Ethics Commission has not taken action on Greenberg’s motion to dismiss. However, the commission plans to meet Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. with each party’s representation in Metro Hall. The meetings are open to the public except for when the commission elects to go into a closed session.

Reach reporter Eleanor McCrary at emccraray@courier-journal.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @ellie_mccrary. Reach reporter Josh Wood at jwood@courier-journal.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @JWoodJourno.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Rachel Greenberg texts show she relied on city worker for help