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 Associate Commissioner Jay Purcell held up an audio recorder during a meeting of the Cape Girardeau County Commission. Purcell used the device to record a closed meeting of the commission on April 17,2008, that he alleged was improperly closed. (Fred Lynch) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo] |
The Missouri Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to hear arguments in the Cape Girardeau County 2nd District commissioner's lawsuit against the county commission for violating Missouri's Open Meetings and Records Act.
Jean Maneke, the Missouri Press Association's attorney, was surprised by the news. She said the state's highest court hears a Sunshine Law case "about once a year." While the announcement is good news for Purcell, she said, it is no indication of which way the court might lean.
The lawsuit stems from an April 17, 2008, closed-door commission meeting that Purcell secretly recorded. At that meeting, Purcell, Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones, then-1st District Commissioner Larry Bock and county prosecutor Morley Swingle confronted county Auditor David Ludwig, asking for his resignation. The Sunshine Law does not provide closed-meeting protection for the discipline of officeholders.
Purcell eventually made his secret recording public. The Missouri attorney general's office investigated Purcell over the recording -- the Sunshine Law does not allow secret recordings of closed meetings -- but earlier this year said it would not pursue charges.
Purcell filed suit against the commission May 14, 2008, saying the April 17 meeting was not properly closed and that the commission should have publicly confronted Ludwig.
Purcell made the original motion to go into closed session to discuss a road easement, but Jones amended the motion to include a personnel issue. Purcell's suit named the commission as a defendant rather than individual commissioners.
The Missouri Eastern District Court of Appeals ruled in July the county commission cannot be sued. In the court's opinion, Judge Kurt Odenwald wrote that "because the Commission as a stand-alone entity is not a proper party to this action, we find that the trial court erred when it allowed the action to proceed against the Commission without the individual commission members named as defendants in their official capacity."
In October 2008, a Stoddard County judge ruled the commissioners did not knowingly violate the Sunshine Law.
Maneke said when a case goes before the Supreme Court, each party has the opportunity to file a new brief, but she could not say if the press association would do so.
Purcell's attorney, J.P. Clubb, said he looks "forward to making our arguments on paper and oral arguments before the court."
Tom Ludwig, the Jackson attorney who successfully represented the county before the circuit and appellate court judges, could not be reached for comment.
Jones said he had no comment.
The hearing date will be set after Clubb and Tom Ludwig file their legal arguments.
So far the county has spent a little more than $20,000 on the case, paying most of that amount for Tom Ludwig's legal services and about $780 for depositions to court reporter Karen Elledge.
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Good. I hope there is some clarification.
I always had a problem with the ruling "did not knowingly violate the Sunshine Law".
So....did that mean they did violate it and not know it, or not violate it all. And if the former is true, why does that make it ok?
I am confused. I want to read the minutes from the stairwell melay last thursday morning. How come the public wasn't invited?
How much will this cost the county? Funny how Smoky says no money for pay raises but for court battles it is no problem.
The April 17 meeting is also the meeting where Purcell called the county cops in to protect his hide.
What a mess. Who would want to be a Cape County Commissioner in this hostile environment. I would think we would want personnel issues to be protected, and it seems reasonable that some deliberations be private. The law is too restrictive and some of our commissioners are too anal. Change the system.
When will the Purcell Circus ever end. Not only has he given the Council countless "black eyes" in the media, now he is costing the county serious money to counter his frivilous lawsuits.
($20,780 and counting)
SO WHY is Purcell not being prosecuted for secretly recording the meeting. He has broken the law -the same set of laws he is suing over.
Voters of Cape County need to put an end to this circus and get rid of Purcell.
What people are missing in all of this is that the county may very well have violated the Sunshine law.
If the case has made it all the way to the State Supreme Court, it's not frivolous.
The Supreme Court may want a good laugh. "Okay let's get this straight you're a commissioner and you want to sue the commission? Hey we have got to hear this one." They may end up having Jay committed.
The only lawyer in the room was Morley Swingle. Why didn't he inform them of the legal problem before they violated the law? That is his job. Any cost for this whole mess should come from his budget.
I don't have a problem with Mr. Purcell recording the meeting given the stacked deck he was up against. He was elected to serve the people, not the good ole boys. Thankfully we have at least one commissioner doing his job.
It is illegal to tape a closed meeting but that wouldn't stop Jay. How was Morley to know if Jay was hidding his recorder? If Jay was doing his job why didn't he attend any of the Cape Magnet meeting? That was one of his jobs.
The Supreme Court may want a good laugh. "Okay let's get this straight you're a commissioner and you want to sue the commission? Hey we have got to hear this one." They may end up having Jay committed.
-- Posted by hollyshort on Wed, Nov 18, 2009, at 8:46 AM
Sorry, not following you here. Why is that funny?
It is illegal to tape a closed meeting but that wouldn't stop Jay. How was Morley to know if Jay was hidding his recorder? If Jay was doing his job why didn't he attend any of the Cape Magnet meeting? That was one of his jobs.
-- Posted by hollyshort on Wed, Nov 18, 2009, at 9:58 AM
Not necessarily. I think there are exemptions, and this might be one of them.
Read Mr. Brad Hollerbach's "Is Commissioner Purcell channeling for Comedian Colbert."
Go Commissioner Purcell
clean-up the place....represent the people - not the powerful and rich...
......but first clean up Potter House.
Excuse me that is Ponder House
oh great....more from Boss Hogg and Roscoe P. Coletrain....why don't they just stop the nonsense already?
Does that make Purcell Deputy Enos?
Indeed this is a frivolous case to bring before our State Supreme Court. Frankly speaking our three ring circus we call The County Commission is frivolous. These clowns need to go and its time we look at a Charter form of County Government. If anyone can't see that this Commission is a huge embbarrasment to our County they must be deaf dumb and blind! If Jay knew there would be a discussion about a County official during a closed meeting why didn't he inform the others about what might happen if they continued. Its obvious he knew this would take place considering he brought his trusty tape recorder. He just wanted to make waves and play the Big Man. I am not impressed what so ever with any of our Commissioners nor Am I impressed with Morely. He also should have known if the closed meeting was in violation of the Sunshine law. Of course he wasn't even aware of important Supreme Court decisions on burning the American Flag! He needs to go as well. I hope someone steps up next election for P.A.
So instead of a 3 ring circus, we need a 7 or 9 ring circus. I don't see the improvement, just the added expense of all the new pet projects that would follow.
Jay Prucell is spending too much time and money on this lawsuit. The only reason Clubbs keeps encouraging him to go to the next level is for free advertisement and add to resume. Cape Girardeau needs to elect someone who will better serve their district and work towards the issues the county is facing. This reason why Purcell had his boards taken away from him is because he has spent too much time and money worrying about other issues. The majority of County Voters do not care about this crap. What they care about is better roads, growing jobs and business, and public safety. Mr. Purcell could actually assist in this matter if he would start attending the Magnet meetings and stop courting organized labor groups for his bid for Presiding Commissioner. Cape do the rest of the County a favor and impeach Jay Purcell.
I would invite those who make the comments such as "The case made it to the Supreme Court-so it must be valid" and "Purcell Represents the people-not the powerful and rich" to please expound on those please.
Just because a case makes it to the Supreme Court does NOT validate the case.
And who are all these RICH and POWERFUL people we are speaking of. The Kennedys, Rockefellers??
I am not a strong advocate of the County Commissioners- past or present. But try to be objective, and take a look at the facts. I dont remember all of this trouble before Mr. Purcell took to the press to promote himself. Fortunately hes not savvy enough to realize the damage he's doing to his own political future. Who wants the reputation as a rabble rouser in Cape County?
Talk about a rebel without a cause!!!!!!!!!
He is more like a rebel without a clue.
hollyshort-
Your comments might be better served in the Rants and Raves section of Craigslist. I do not understand how anyone can look at the performance of this commission and only find fault with Jay Purcell. He may not be the best champion for Cape city or Cape County but, you can hardly blame him for the current inabilities of the commission. I can't imagine any scenario where Gerald and Morley are in the same room and everybody is going to get a fair shake.......
Greywolf's comment makes the most sense. At the very least shake this commission up and get some new blood in there.....
Apparently the Missouri Supreme court sees merit for trying the case. Let them decide the case, there are far too many want to be lawyers without all the facts who are just speculating.
Had the Court decided not to review this case how many of you would be on here blasting Mr. Purcell for taking it to another level? Obviously the Court found some merit to his argument.
How much would he be blasted had he not recorded people. Not just this incident, all of his recordings. Did you hear that conversation with him and "Boss Hogg" in the car. If I were him, or the new guy, I would show up with a court reporter everytime I was in the presence of Gerald Jones. It's not illegal to record the meeting if the meeting was not legally closed. This commission was inadequate long before Jay Purcell got there.
If that is the case it is extremely inadequte with Smoky the Commissioner.
holly
You sound more like a bitter ex-girlfriend than someone with an opposing point of view or set of ideals.
What if I'm not an ex?
It's called a simile....look it up.
Thanks Mr. Reynolds I will.
-- Posted by 2wheeler on Wed, Nov 18, 2009, at 1:18 PM
And those are good points.
But I think people are missing the point. Previous rulings did not rule on the Sunshine status. They ruled that a county commission can't be sued. In fact, they didn't even comment on the validly of the lawsuit.
Why is this important? Because it pretty much made the sunshine law ineffective because you can't hold entities like county governments accountable despite laws that make covert decisions illeagal.
At least the county commission will learn not to make decisions behind closed doors.
More County taxpayer money spent!! Can't believe it.................
A case could be brought by the prosecuting attorney at his discression. The pa in this case would be prosecuting himself. Now we critisize Mr. Purcell for suing himself. Which sounds more ridiculous?
Prosecutors have great latitude with little oversight or recourse..I learned that from the Clinton era. Who needs to buy a judge if you own the prosecutor.
How can Mr. Purcell possibly be an effective commissioner with this lawsuit continuing? If Purcell thought the meeting was illegal, why didn't he protest during the meeting? And, if you read the Sunshine Law, a commissioner is not guilty unless he knowingly violates the law. Who would have thought that talking about a resignation of a public official was not a personnel matter? There was no conspiracy, just an honest mistake.
JohnQ,
I agree that the wording is unclear. Which is why it made it all the way to the supreme court.
But that does leave a few things, why doesn't the county commisioner's lawyer not understand the sunshine law?
It might be an honest mistakes, but how many "honest mistakes" went on behind closed doors. Like selling park land, etc?
I am not confortable with ignornace being a valid reason to break the law.