Oh, I’ve tried to act like I don’t care, but it doesn’t seem fair anymore….

    If you are a long-time reader of this blog, you know its purpose originally was to document for the Missouri legislature the need for a stronger and clearer Sunshine law in the state, in the face of their accusations that there weren’t that many violations of the law on a regular basis.  I’ve always tried to talk about situations, without naming names for the most part, that I thought showed the lack of understanding of the law by public officials.

    I’ve steered clear, for the most part, about talking about situations where I was directly involved.  The cases I’ve litigated have not appeared on the blog because I don’t want to compromise my position as counsel to folks who file lawsuits under the Sunshine law.

    That has been difficult, at times.  Many of those reading this know that at times I’ve had high-profile clients.  And I sometimes wonder how long I dare hold my tongue after my representation of a client ceases, when the public body that was a party to the suit continues to violate the law.

    This is one of those times.  I’ve been encouraged to speak up about a situation going on in Jackson County involving not only Sunshine law issues, but also ethics issues.  The ethics situations I try to stay distant from — I don’t by any means claim any expertise in ethics issues, other than I believe every lawyer in the State of Missouri has a high duty to the Missouri Supreme Court to perform in as ethical a role as is humanly possible in the execution of their professional duties.

    And I did have a client involved in Jackson County politics.  But that representation has been over for more than a year — probably nearly two years.  So perhaps I can offer a thought or two at this juncture and while I know there are those who will claim this is tied to that client, I think others will understand that this has nothing to do with matters related to that case.

    The Jackson County Legislature is in the process of selecting candidates for the Jackson County Ethics Commission.  The ethics commission is an entity created by the Jackson County Charter, and therefore it is clearly a “public governmental body” as defined by the Sunshine law.  That means everything it does must be done in public.  The selection committee is established by the county charter.  That makes that selection committee a public governmental body, also.

    The Sunshine law mandates that all meetings of public governmental bodies must be held in public and all records of public governmental bodies must be open to the public, unless there is a provision in Section 610.021 which allows closure.  Case law is absolutely clear, as is the law itself, that the exclusions in Section 610.021 must be read narrowly.  Therefore, unless there is a clear provision in Section 610.021 to close a record or meeting, you as a member of the public must be allowed access to that information or meeting.

    The commission’s website has posted a sentence at present that states “Every effort will be made to maintain the confidentiality of applications, but the applications of those selected as finalists may become public. Finalists will be notified prior to their information being made public.”

    That is absolutely wrong! There is nothing in the exceptions contained in Section 610.021 that would allow any of this information to be closed.  None of these persons are applicants for employment with the county.  Each of these appointments are political appointments and for them to claim in any fashion that this would be confidential is legally wrong and an affront to the Jackson County citizens, myself included.

    I cannot say that I am surprised.  My opinion of the Jackson County legislature members and its counsel is that the Sunshine law doesn’t rank high on their list of priorities.  I have not always felt that way, but in the past two to three years, my opinion has changed dramatically.

    I live in Jackson County.  I expect more from my county legislature.  I am really tired of having persons in those offices whose legal shenanigans embarrass me.  I am sorry that there is no one in the county counselor’s office who understands the Sunshine law or attempts to guide the legislature and the other county entities to follow the law.  I am aghast that our elected County Executive, himself a lawyer, is offering this kind of leadership to those under him.

    I expect more from those I elect to public office.  So should you.