Judge rules city manager not liable in lawsuit

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A federal judge has dismissed Kansas City Manager Wayne Cauthen from a discrimination lawsuit.

Russell Widmar, Kansas City's former aviation director, filed a federal discrimination lawsuit last year against the city. He contended in the lawsuit that Cauthen fired him in November 2003 for racial reasons.

Widmar, who is white, named Cauthen as one of several defendants. In the lawsuit, Widmar claimed that local African-American leaders pressured Cauthen to fire him.

U.S. District Court Judge Dean Whipple sided with Cauthen, whose attorney argued that the city manager could not be held individually liable under the laws that Widmar claimed were violated.

Cauthen's attorney, Charles Harris, said the city manager was "elated" by Whipple's ruling. Widmar's attorney could not be reached for comment.

Widmar, now the aviation director of Fresno, Calif., said in the lawsuit that his handling of a news and gift shop contract at Kansas City International Airport in late 2001 angered several black leaders, including Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, former mayor of Kansas City.

Widmar recommended a contractor with a different minority subtenant than the one that had been at the airport the previous 10 years and was favored by black leaders.

The City Council approved the contract, but the lawsuit claims that afterward some city leaders labeled Widmar a racist.

The lawsuit also claimed that Cauthen helped block the City Council's approval of a severance deal for Widmar.