Oral arguments set in Purcell Sunshine lawsuit

The Missouri Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Feb. 24 in Cape Girardeau County District 2 Commissioner Jay Purcell's Sunshine Law appeal. The high court on Tuesday set the date for attorneys J.P. Clubb, representing Purcell, and Tom Ludwig, representing the county, to explain their versions of the dispute over whether the commission exceeded its authority to close meetings on April 17, 2008. At that meeting, secretly recorded by Purcell, the commission and Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle confronted county Auditor David Ludwig, asking for his resignation. 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 has lost two court decisions in the case, most recently when the Eastern District Missouri Court of Appeals ruled that the commission could not be sued.