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July 11, 2007 05:09 PM UTC

Jeffco Commissioner to Public: Buzz Off, Screw the Law

  • 10 Comments
  • 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…

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10 thoughts on “Jeffco Commissioner to Public: Buzz Off, Screw the Law”

  1.   If so, are they term limited?  If not, are there any Republicans looking at primarying them?
      And who are the Dems looking to run for these seats?

  2. I think what you need to look at is the history of failed litigation that makes Colorado politicians believe that they have immunity.  Over and over again when citizens have sued local governments in Colorado they have ended up being victims again.  Even though the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that government immunity does not extend to counties and municipalities, the defense lawyers plead “immunity” to all sorts of nasty acts such as extortion. They do this in a way not allowed offiicially.  When pleading that a government act is not intentional the defendants are supposed to stipulate to the facts.  Ultimately, intent could be decided by a jury.  What they do instead is file a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim.  That is supposed to be reserved for a situation  such as filing a lawsuit saying someone didn’t love you.  In fact, West Law’s 2005 notshell book on civil procedure says that that motion should be eliminated in law because it is so abused.  It is used against pro se litigants but it is also used against represented parties solely to cause delays and drive up legal bills.  I think that is what happened to Marvin Heermeyer who paid Dietz in Boulder over $50,000 to sue for defamation and illegal change of zoning status. Once a politiican has seen that complaining citizens are locked out from the justice system, they just do whatever they want no matter how many people get hurt. 

    1. In the past, I have mentioned the fact that there is also a JeffCO-specific scandal (as I am doing again now, see how sly I am? Click here), which, arguably, is remotely related to a topic about a “scandal in JeffCo.”

      Pols, perhaps, inadvertently caught on and, this time, unambiguously characterized this post as dealing with “the Jefferson County Board of Commissioners,” which effectively should circumscribe me and others from hijacking this thread and turning into a rant about our unethical judiciary.

      However, your approach, Kay, is neither subtle nor sublime. Instead, you’re giving us a lesson in Civil Procedure 101 and Rule 12(b) jurisprudence, which nothing, whatever, to do with corrupt county officials.  To concede your point, I guarantee you that if Chris Bealle files a suit for declaratory or injunctive relief under some “procedural injury” theory, he will get his day in court. If, however, Chris drafts the same, identical complaint and you or I or any other hack files it, we will not get a day in court. 

      But then, I repeat myself. This is not about getting a day in court. It’s about Congrove and McKasky.

      1. I’m sorry if I have not been “subtle and/or sublime” or if I changed the subject when you and your associates had another agenda.

        I have had a real problem with the defamatory articles and Chris Beall, per his bills, advising publication about on going litigation. 

        I asked the Rocky Mountain News and the Steambot Pilot not to publicize about me but they did anyway. This caused me and my family problems.  I posted on the articles about me in the Steamboat Pilot, correcting the articles,  but they deleted my posts.  The Rocky Mountain News, which employs Chris Beall as a lawyer, does not allow people to post on articles about them.

        I filed a motion to stop the defense from publicizing about our litigation but Mr. Beall opposed it. His client publicized that motions for summary judgment can be “struck” by a magistrate–that he can direct that a litigant can only file objections.  (same Magistrate Schlatter)  (See 1948 amendments to FRCP)

      2. I am absolutley convinced that there are structural weaknesses in the Colorado government that allow and protect tocal government protection.  In my case in Steamboat, another citizen, David Criste, had previously sued the city council.  Their reaction, according to depositions, was to try to bankrupt him with attorney bills so that he couldn’t get to a jury.  And it worked.  Then, the same parties went after me.

        I did my masters thesis at MIT on municipal disclosure analysis.  It, and two other documents, were published by the “Council on Municipal Performance”.  I was offered a job at HUD on a team to build local government capacity. I didn’t take it, but I did work at the NYSE in Regulation and Surveillance as a Senior Systems Designer.  So I did know something about local government and regulation before I became a victim of local government corruption.

      3. “Since Tenney, we have recognized two kinds of immunities under В§ 1983. Most public officials are entitled only to qualified immunity. Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 807, 73 L. Ed. 2d 396, 102 S. Ct. 2727 (1982); Butz v. Economou, 438 U.S. 478, 508, 57 L. Ed. 2d 895, 98 S. Ct. 2894 (1978). Under this form of immunity, government officials are not subject to damages liability for the performance of their discretionary functions when “their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known.” Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. at 818 . In most cases, qualified immunity is sufficient to “protect officials who are required to exercise their discretion and the related public interest in encouraging the vigorous exercise of official authority.” Butz v. Economou, 438 U.S. at 506  ).. U.S. Supreme Court STEPHEN BUCKLEY v. MICHAEL FITZSIMMONS ET AL., 113 S. Ct. 2606 (U.S. 06/24/1993)

        “Held: An entity that does not qualify as an “arm of the State” for Eleventh Amendment purposes cannot assert sovereign immunity as a defense to an admiralty suit….. sovereign immunity does not extend to counties, see, e.g., Lake Country Estates, Inc. v. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, 440 U. S. 391, 401, and n. 19, even when they “exercise a `slice of state power,’” U.S. Supreme Court “Northern Insurance Company of New York v. Chatham County, Georgia, 126 S.Ct. 1689, 547 U.S. 189, 164 L.Ed.2d 367 (U.S. 04/25/2006)

      4. Many of the articles in the Wall Street journal law blog are about  crooked lawyers. For instance, bags of cash being passed for kickbacks.  I posted quotations of ex parte conferences with judges etc. and emailed them to the defense counsel and they didn’t post anything contrary.

        See July 6, 2007,
        Law Blog Q&A: Maine Bar Association’s Peter LaFond

  3. McCasky and Congrove’s respective answers to the Canyon Courier reporter are predictable.

    Congrove is under investigation by the CBI and special prosecutor for serious felonies, is destined to be indicted, is universally despised in the county, and if he pulled a wagon-load of Catholic Nuns from a burning building on his hands and knees, still has zero chance of re-election. Therefore, copping to a little “whoopsidaisy” and admitting to a violation of the Open Meetings Law is the LEAST of Congrove’s worries. Sheesh, Congrove’s admission may almost accomplish the impossible – make Congrove look human, instead of a greasy-fat, stress-induced Rosaria-flush-faced sleazeball.

    McCasky on the other hand, is Congrove’s enabler, but has always managed to swiftly get his JC Penny suits to the dry-cleaners to remove Congrove’s blood. McCasky is openly running for re-election and will admit to no wrongdoing whatsoever. Any admission of the kind would end up directly linking McCasky with Kingpin Congrove, and will certainly be used against McCasky in his re-election bid. McCasky is a puss who never did, and never will, have the nuts to admit fault. He is a lifelong bureaucrat. And lifelong bureaucrats don’t get to be lifelong bureaucrats without having a yellow streak.

    My Jeffco Prediction: Major Indictments. Double Recall

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