July 11, 2007 05:09 PM UTC

Jeffco Commissioner to Public: Buzz Off, Screw the Law

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• by: Colorado Pols

We’ve been talking for months now about the web of scandals lining up to take apart the Jefferson County Board of Commissioners. It’s been a story about a singularly corrupt elected official, commissioner Jim Congrove, aided and abetted at every step by fellow commissioner Kevin McCasky in a bizarre set of improprieties, treachery, and retaliation against all critics.

Note that we’ve always factored McCasky in a supporting role–an enabler of Congrove’s legally dubious activities as opposed to the instigator. But it seems McCasky is quite capable of disregarding the law on his own, even in cases where Congrove wouldn’t dare. As the Canyon Courier reports:

Two of the three Jefferson County commissioners have acknowledged that the policy-setting board violated the Colorado Open Meetings Law by failing to post public notice of a budget meeting held last Thursday.

The meeting in question was held at 11 a.m. Thursday in a hearing room typically reserved for board’s regular public sessions to discuss with county employees the decisions the commission will likely make when it sets the 2008 budget later this year…

The Colorado Open Meetings Law expressly forbids any public board from having a quorum or more of its members present any time that “public business is discussed or at which any formal action may be taken,” without first posting public notice of the meeting at least 24 hours in advance.

Attorney Chris Beall, who represents the Courier through the Colorado Press Association, said the meeting was a “clear violation of the Open Meeting Law,” and that the commissioners should have recognized the error and left the meeting immediately because the public and the press were not given notice of the event.

Democratic Commissioner Kathy Hartman and Republican Jim Congrove each acknowledged after the meeting that the board should not have met without posting notice…

But while the two other commissioners ultimately agreed the meeting was in violation of state law, Republican Commissioner Kevin McCasky vehemently denied that he, or the board, did anything wrong.

“This is information sharing,” McCasky said. “Me and the other two commissioners can go to any meeting that we choose to go to, without it being published, as long as it’s for informational purposes and there’s no discussion about any pending public policy decision to be made.”

Beall said the Open Meetings Law applies to any meeting at which public business is discussed, and that a talk about how the county plans to handle its budget certainly qualifies as public business.

McCasky, though, said that not only was public notice not required, but that he did not want the press or the public to attend the event…

When asked how the public could be certain the commission is not making important decisions when it holds meetings but fails to notify the public, McCasky responded that “you can never know that.”

Moreover, McCasky said he interprets the Open Meetings Law to allow him to talk about county business with the other commissioners through other, more covert means, without inviting the public… [Pols emphasis]

Congrove addressed McCasky’s position, saying he has “no idea what (McCasky) is basing his opinion on,” and that the meeting “should have been posted — end of story.”

Wow. This could be Kevin McCasky’s Tom DeLay “I am the government” moment. If this appalling contempt for the Open Meetings Law doesn’t make you wonder what other laws McCasky creatively “interprets,” perhaps nothing will. It’s consistent, though, with the decision he made to install a mute button on the mic used by the public in the county commission hearing room–he just doesn’t want you pesky citizens…getting in the way…