Catch 22 in Sunshine Law Issue

The drama surrounding Councilwoman Kristi Fulnecky just added a new nauseating chapter.  In a previous blog post I laid out the basics of the Sunshine Law that says that no more than two officials may meet without calling an official meeting.  It seems Mayor Stephens and the “Gang of Five” Council members that signed the infamous letter asking for an investigation into Fulnecky’s eligibility now have discovered a possible way to circumvent even this law.

            Last Tuesday, Councilwoman Fulnecky was asked to leave a “closed meeting” which included the Mayor, the Gang of Five, and Councilman Hosmer.  She refused to be forced to leave a meeting that turned out to be about her.  Apparently, since Fulnecky had hired Attorney Dee Wampler to represent her in the “administrative hearing” concerning her eligibility to serve in public office (for more on this see my earlier blog posts), the Gang of Five decided they should seek legal counsel as well and hired Kevin O’Keefe.  This meeting was supposed to be between them and their attorney.  Why Councilman Hosmer was there when he didn’t sign the letter is unknown to me at this time.  Councilman Burnett, who also did not sign, was sick at the time of the meeting and could not attend, although I don’t know if he would have. 

            O’Keefe told Fulnecky she was hindering the attorney-client privilege and that, if she refused to leave, she could be “subject to penalties, up to and including removal from office.”  Eventually, Fulnecky left the meeting but only after recording the fifteen minutes that she was there. 

            Now comes the question: Can the City Council circumvent the Sunshine Law by hiring a single attorney to represent multiple members and invoking attorney-client privilege? Under normal circumstances, any group could hire a single attorney to represent them.  However, this situation is different since they are elected officials under the Missouri Sunshine Law.  No one is questioning whether or not they had the right to hire legal counsel; Fulnecky did after all, only whether they are using this as a legal way to break the law. 

The fact that they are alleged to have all conspired with the mayor against Fulnecky and may already have broken the Sunshine Law adds an entirely new level of irony to this whole situation.  Why on earth break the Sunshine Law to speak with a single attorney about defending yourselves for breaking the Sunshine law among other things?  The logic of this decision evades me. 

            It seems to me that there was a smarter way to do this.  To avoid this apparent conflict of interests and the appearance of wrongdoing, the Council Members should have each hired their own attorney and spoken with them on their own time.  This would have at least helped to maintain a small amount of the already damaged integrity of our local government. 

            What do you think, Springfield?  Is this how you want your local government to conduct itself?  Should you expect more of your City Council and your Mayor?  How much confidence do you still have in our Mayor?  Has he proven worthy of his office?  These are questions that we all need to seriously ponder. 

NOTE:   After I posted this, I was informed that Judge Holstein, the one the city hired to investigate Fulnecky, will be getting paid $225 hr.  and O'Keefe $300 hr.  This $525 hr. will be a running tab for every working/billable hour at the taxpayer's expense for as long as it takes to get this resolved.