Legal Questions Raised By Legal Defense Fund
Or Much Ado About Nothing
I never hesitate to answer that Shakespeare is my favorite playwright and Henry The Fifth my favorite work by the Bard of Avon. King Henry’s “feast of Crispian” speech to his troops, just before the battle of Agincourt (Act 4, Scene 3), to this day remains one of the most stirring passages of English Literature.
The return of “Shakespeare In The Park” to the summer stage prompted me to once more thumb the pages of a wonderful book entitled Brush Up Your Shakespear by Michael Macrone. It helps explain the Bard’s most memorable and oft misquoted lines in the context of the language of the time.
Polonius in Hamlet (Act1, Scene 3) gives this famous advice to his son Laertes:
This above all; to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man,
Farewell, my blessing season this in thee!
We apply our own modern meanings to the words and ascribe greater wisdom about leading an “honest” life and listening to your own inner voice than Shakespear ever meant. At the time, to thine own self be “true” meant to put your own interests above others and the part about not being “false” to any man meant not having a bad reputation. It loses a lot of its romance when understood as being advice to always act in your own selfish interests to protect your image in the community.
Shakespeare loved to poke fun at pretense and ego. His sharp pen and sharper wit would have been busy in our town, where pretense stands on ceremony. In other words, we take ourselves too seriously.
This week a group of movers and shakers hosted a party to raise money for a Legal Defense Fund for the Mayor. Letters were mailed to City contractors, Union PACS and even some members of City boards and commissions. I was surprised donation cans weren’t put out at area checkout counters. Normally you see this level of effort in raising money for someone who needs an operation...not a lawyer.
All of which seemed to me, Much Ado About Nothing.
No one is suing the Mayor. There are no impeachment proceedings...a fact that interestingly enough seems to anger the Mayor’s supporters as much as her detractors.
The City Council is simply trying to find out how a three year contract was signed by the Mayor without a copy being placed on file anywhere in City Hall, without it being reviewed and signed off on by the City Administrator, City Attorney and Contract Administrator for the City. We want to know why we are being asked to pay $200,000 for the cancellation of a contract that was suppose to have had no cost to the City. Along the way a few other questions have arisen. Like why we didn’t get any rebate checks till the issue became public? Why those rebates seem to be far less than the $40,000 a year the Mayor and HR Director thought they would be.
Our goal is to make sure it doesn’t happen again. It would also be nice if future contracts the Mayor signs are on file somewhere for public inspection. If a contract is signed by the Mayor to make a private firm money, even if there is no cost to the City, you have a right to that information.
Having failed to garner the required seven votes of the Council to subpoena witnesses, the Council’s review of this incident is winding down just as the fundraising for the Mayor’s Legal Defense Fund is kicking into high gear. Last Monday we reviewed the data assembled by the City Administrator. We will probably make some recommendations, but legal action against the Mayor by the Council isn’t an option.
The rush to create a Legal Defense Fund is more about showmanship than substance.
Hamlet: Madam, how like you this play?
Queen: The lady doth protest too much, me thinks.
(Act 3, Scene 2)
I’m also not sure the Mayor could legally accept help from such a group. There is a City Ordinance which prohibits gifts of over $75 from those doing business with or regulated by the City or who would gain financially from any action pending before the City. I know that solicitation letters went out to companies doing business with the City. Owners of establishments with liquor licenses for example, are regulated by the City and could not give more than the $75.
I don’t see how the Mayor or her attorney could accept money that may have come from these prohibited sources. Simply running it through a separate committee, I don’t feel releases the Mayor from the obligation to not accept such gifts.
Or in the words of Shakespeare's Hamlet...ay, there’s the rub (Act 3, Scene 1).
Unlike political donations, there are no limits to how much an individual or business can donate to a Legal Defense Fund. No doubt thousands (perhaps tens of thousands) of dollars will be raised by this group. But the public will never know who gave or how much unless the group voluntarily releases that information. The public will never know how the money is spent, unless the group voluntarily agrees to open their books.
Interestingly, the group raising money for the Mayor’s erstwhile legal fees, decided to use Premier Bank at about the same time the Convention Center Oversight Committee (which the Mayor serves on) tried to shift millions in deposits from Commerce Bank to Premier. Premier has yet to build their bank in St. Charles and is renting a storefront at this time.
Then we all learned last week that former Councilman Ken Kielty (who serves on the Mayor’s Legal Defense Fund) has started a committee to raise more money to recall City Council members. We presume just the ones he doesn’t like. Kielty, who until recently served on the Convention Center Oversight Committee with the Mayor, also listed Premier Bank (with their Jefferson City address) as the bank his committee was using.
What an incredible coincidence!
“If this were played upon a stage now, I would condemn it as an improbable fiction.”
Fabian, Twelfth Night (Act 3, Scene 4)
