Carroll Hubbard, the former U.S. congressman who represented Kentucky’s 1st District for 18 years and served two years in federal prison when he was convicted of misusing campaign contributions, died Saturday at a Paducah nursing home. He was 85.
A native of Murray, he earned his law degree from the University of Louisville in 1962 and was elected to the Kentucky Senate five years later.
He won his first congressional race, as a Democrat, in 1974 and ran successfully for reelection every two years through 1990. He maintained a district office in Hopkinsville.
In 1992, when the House banking scandal had become public, he lost in the primary to Tom Barlow. Hubbard subsequently pleaded guilty to violating federal campaign finance laws, which involved converting campaign contributions to his personal use. He served time in federal prison from 1995 to 1997.
He was disbarred because of the conviction but later had his law license reinstated by the Kentucky Supreme Court. The court, overruling a unanimous decision against returning his license by the Kentucky Bar Association, found that Hubbard was of “good moral character,” the Louisville Courier Journal reported. He was disbarred again in 2020 for lying about an incident when he called another lawyer and her wife “ugly lesbians.”
After serving his prison sentence, Hubbard attempted a return to politics. He ran unsuccessfully for the Kentucky Senate as a Democrat in 2006, 2008 and 2012, and for the Kentucky House as a Republican in 2020.
In an obituary published by Byrn Funeral Home in Mayfield, Hubbard’s family noted his attention to constituent services.
“Correspondence with the district’s constituents also took up much of Mr. Hubbard’s time during his days in Congress. In this era before e-mail and social media, Mr. Hubbard personally signed and sent literally hundreds of thousands of letters, newsletters, calendars and Christmas cards to the citizens of Western Kentucky,” the obituary states.
Hubbard’s father, Carroll Hubbard Sr., was a Baptist minister. His mother, Beth Hubbard, was a school teacher.
The funeral will be at 11 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 19, at Byrn Funeral Home. Visitation will be from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday and from 10 a.m. until the funeral hour Saturday.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. She spent 30 years as a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition.
