Judge Callahan shows disdain for Jay Nixon, Chet Pleban
Judge Richard Callahan
The hearing was scheduled, ostensibly, for Callahan to approve the settlement that ends the dispute over whether Gov. Matt Blunt or his staffers violated various open records laws.
But the two-hour display was really a show. Attorney Chet Pleban — who had been appointed by Nixon as the lawyer for the independent investigative team — called it “political theater.”
Even the lawyers appointed by Callahan — Louis Leonatti and Joe Maxwell — admitted after the hearing that the process, where both sides presented the outlines of their cases, complete with PowerPoint presentations, even though they had already agreed to settle, was in part a show for the media.
Callahan started the affair with a fairly tense grilling of James Layton, an attorney representing the office of attorney general. Callahan, in an effort to head off Pleban, was seeking to determine if the attorney general’s appointed independent investigators had any jurisdiction to object to the settlement. Pleban had sent a long letter to Callahan suggesting the settlement was a farce.
“We do not assert that they are operating under our direction,” said Layton, put in the tough position of defending a boss the judge clearly doesn’t like too much.
Said Callahan: “In Jefferson City, it’s not unusual to speak out of two sides of one’s mouth.” But, Callahan continued, in regard to Nixon and his appointed lawyer, Pleban, “This is a singular feat of speaking of of three sides of one’s mouth.”
Callahan and Nixon have clashed previously over legal issues, particularly the powers of the attorney general’s office.
Callahan went so far as to call the investigators — former state patrolmen Mel Fisher and Rick Wilhoit — a “rogue investigative team.”
Other notes from the hearing:
Henry Herschel is the scapegoat: Herschel, the governor’s former top attorney, is ultimately being held out as the scapegoat in how the governor’s office mishandled e-mails and Sunshine Law. While the attorneys in the case praised Herschel for “doing the right thing,” both the case against the governor, and his defense, hinged on Herschel’s Sunshine Law advice.
Herschel advised the governor on Sept. 10 and again on Sept. 14 — around the time the controversy began — that e-mails were not public record and that the governor’s office didn’t have a records retention policy. Later, on Nov. 11, Herschel corrected his position. Because the governor’s office was relying on advice from its attorney, it would have been “impossible” to prove a “knowing and purposeful” violation of the Sunshine Law, Leonatti and Maxwell said.
Herschel left the governor’s office not long after the Nov. 11 memo and took an administrative law judge position in the Department of Labor.
Sunshine Law needs fixing: Leonatti and Maxwell sent a message to Missouri lawmakers after the case was finally settled yesterday. They said the state’s Sunshine Law is poorly written and needs to be fixed. Among the changes they’d suggest is requiring a judge to have “in camera” review of public documents before a public official can deny them to somebody who requests them. In the settlement in the Blunt case, retired Boone County Judge Frank Conley will review the Blunt documents and determine which ones are public and should be handed over to state investigators.
some thoughts about my friend Chet Pleban, whom I couldnt love any more if he were my own brother, which I’ve never disclosed before; any media reading interested, welcome to follow-up with me.
Note to anyone negotiating a settlement with Chet’s office tho: always read the final draft for computer glitches; good advice no matter whom one is dealing with.
Back when I was on the schoolboard leading the charge for an investigation into the details of the closing of Waring School, the district’s 5th best performing elementary school and it’s subsequent sale to SLU which needed it for the last piece of SLU’s new stadium, saving them $25 million dollars over the alternative site, which former mayor Vince Schoemehl was effectively running the school district on the Board and worked for father Biondi of SLU, more or less, in Grand Center, and acting Supt Bill Roberti had told me that Father Biondi called him to ask for that school:
so, back in those days, when I heard that Bill Roberti was talking about suing me for my public comments asking for an investigation (that’s pretty much all I did, including calling it a heck of a coincidence worthy of investigation), the first thing I did was to call Chet Pleban and discuss the matter with him and ask him if he’d represent me if I got sued. He told me that it didnt seem like I had done anything wrong and let’s wait and see what happened. Then when Roberti did see me, guess he was representing him?! Chet Pleban! I’m not an expert on legal ethics and conflict of interest in such a case, but I would have thought that since Chet had talked to me about the details that he would have declined representing Roberti; presume Roberti hadnt talked to him yet when he talked to me. Always meant to ask the Bar Association about it but never got around to it; yet. Also, at one point in the litigation (which Roberti ultimately dropped, sort of at mutual agreement, before he left town, mostly because he had no case and it was about pride and intimidating me), Chet and I (representing myself at this point) and one of his associates spent an afternoon negotiating a settlement agreement (with no money being paid, but an apology from me without admitting I had said anything wrong); we drafted some terms and reached an agreement, with some things added and subtracted at my request from their first draft. The following Tuesday the associate came up to me before a schoolboard meeting and said, quick, sign it so we can announce a settlement. I asked if I could read it first. I found that all the things I had asked for and agreed on had been omitted. Shocker there! I emailed Chet that he should have his computer programs checked as there seemed to be some glitches in them.
Geez Bill you were on the school board?
Back when I was on the schoolboard leading the charge for an investigation into the details of the closing of Waring School, the district’s 5th best performing elementary school and it’s subsequent sale to SLU which needed it for the last piece of SLU’s new stadium, saving them $25 million dollars over the alternative site, which former mayor Vince Schoemehl was effectively running the school district on the Board and worked for father Biondi of SLU, more or less, in Grand Center, and acting Supt Bill Roberti had told me that Father Biondi called him to ask for that school:
UGH!
Bill was on the school board and apparently has a ton of education which he refuses to call upon when posting a response. Little things like capitalization, punctuation, and sentence structure are a mere bother for a genius like Bill Haas.
yea, James Joyce wasnt much of a writer either; I think the Phi Beta Kappa Yale English speaks for itself; if I choose to run on in the interest of time, that’s my right; if you choose to focus on the fact that you have to pay attention to understand what I’m saying and couldnt anyhow no matter how I said it, that’s yours. not judging, just saying. did you understand that? here, I have an idea; get this.
Nuf said.
Judge Callahan enjoys a very good reputation among Republicans and Democrats. His disdain for Nixon is well known - I suspect well deserved also.
Bill - when Chuck sues you for calling him a sleaze bag lawyer - see if you can get the case moved to Cole County. You could draw Judge Callahan - that would be great fun!
There goes’s Callahan’s Missouri Supreme Court appointment.