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| 2nd Councilman Accused: “Adverse To The City” By: James Clark John Leonard is not the first to be threatened with loss of access to city hall for “an adverse position to that of the city.” Last week News Radio 1420 learned from a well-placed source and reported that Mayor David Miller was going to publicly say that City Councilman John Leonard was “adverse to the city.” He was going to say that Leonard was harming the city’s efforts in the Ted Parker lawsuit. Hours before the Mayor’s public statement the judge overseeing the Ted Parker lawsuit issued a gag order. Miller took all references to the Ted Parker lawsuit out of his Thursday afternoon press conference. “Adverse to the city” is a legal concept that might be used to keep Leonard out of certain meetings at city hall. If city officials do publicly declare Councilman Leonard as “adverse to the city” it would not be first time such a move was made. Back in January of 1997 city officials declared then-Councilman Victor Hernandez as “in an adverse position to that of the city.” That’s how the Lubbock Avalanche Journal quoted interim Mayor Ty Cooke. Hernandez was temporarily denied access to public records and there were even threats of locking him out of some meetings at city hall. Now what in the world did Hernandez do to earn that kind of treatment? Victor Hernandez questioned the legality of a contract that was under negotiation between Lubbock Power & Light and Texas Tech. No lawsuit had been filed. As we recall Hernandez had not even threatened a lawsuit. Hernandez did voice public opposition to going forward with the deal until more legal research had been done. Hernandez also asked the District Attorney to examine the legality of the deal. A second Avalanche Journal article in January 1997 said, “City Attorney Anita Burgess said he [Victor Hernandez] had put himself in a position adverse to that of the council as a whole, which is her client.” That sounds remarkably similar to language being used today at City Hall to describe John Leonard. We suspect that if he could, Leonard would say he’s never done one thing adverse to the city. However, Leonard can’t comment; he’s under a gag order. News Radio 1420 invited Victor Hernandez to speak to this issue. He declined. We also checked with a couple of attorneys in town. So far we have not found an attorney that is willing to say on the record what constitutes “adverse to the city.” Leonard has publicly stated that he does not like the way the city is treating Ted Parker. Is stating a minority opinion enough to be declared adverse? Leonard has refused to meet in private with the city attorney; is that enough? Leonard has also said publicly that he would be willing to take a deposition in the Ted Parker case. Is that enough? To the best of our knowledge Leonard has not sued or threatened to sue the city of Lubbock. So if the standard of adversity is a lawsuit, then Leonard would not be adverse. We’ll keep doing research. Story Posted: Mon Nov 12 06:30:00 CST 2007 Created: Mon Nov 12 06:31:42 CST 2007 BACK TO HOME/NEWS Top Story • Lubbock tax bill going up Lubbock News & Lbk County • Tech fans face parking challenges • Seat belts required in school buses • Apartment fire injures one Weather • Thursday Forecast Business • AM Business Notebook Around Texas • Cornyn Comments On Obama's Iraq War Remarks • Fire Warning For Hunters As Dove Season Kicks Off • Boy Dies Of Rare Infection From Water • Austin Headlines • Dallas Headlines • Houston Headlines • San Antonio Headlines Swap Shop • Swap Shop Update This Day In History • Today Marks Formal End Of World War Two • Today In History Birthdays • Today's Birthdays Entertainment • Tonight's TV Off Beat News Of The Day • Middle School Student Arrested Over Facebook Threats Health Beat • New North American Lutheran Church Launched • New Study Doesn't Bode Well For Abbott Diet Drug Religion Today • New North American Lutheran Church Launched • Al-Qaeda Leader Calls For Killing Christians Sports • Sports Shorts |
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