BOMBSHELL: Butler Admits Huron Consulting Worked for CCF in Litigation Advocacy Role--HURON NOT INDEPENDENT!!!!!

[Brian Essi]

This changes everything!

Butler seeks to shield from the public how he and CCF have used and continue to use Huron Consulting in a trial advocacy role.

So it is now clear that Huron was not and is not an independent consultant--they were secretly used by CCF, Butler and LHA to fight the citizen taxpayers trying to help the city.

So City Council used the so-called Huron Report to justify the Master Agreement--and Butler writes that the public can't see Huron's communications with him and CCF.

Outrageous!

Is there no limit to the twisted secrecy and lack of transparency of our local leaders?

You just can't make this stuff up.


From: "Butler, Kevin" <Kevin.Butler@lakewoodoh.net>
To: 'Brian Essi'
Cc: "Petrus, Jeannine" <Jeannine.Petrus@lakewoodoh.net>; "Strachan, Shannon" <Shannon.Strachan@lakewoodoh.net>
Sent: Friday, July 15, 2016 10:38 PM
Subject: RE: Public Records Requests --PRR1 to PRR 173

Mr. Essi:

In No. 120 of your March 15, 2016 public records request, you ask for “All correspondence and communications – electronic or otherwise – between or among Law Director Butler, Mayor Summers, Bullock, Paul Colarusso (‘Colarusso’), and/or John Bodine (‘Bodine’) from January 1, 2015, to the present.”

The Ohio Supreme Court has held that a public records request must describe the records desired with reasonable and sufficient clarity and not be overly broad and ambiguous. State ex rel. Morgan v. New Lexington, 112 Ohio St.3d 33, 2006-Ohio-6365, ¶29, quoting State ex rel. Fant v. Tober, 68 Ohio St.3d 117 (1993). Your request is denied to the extent you intended it as a request for all correspondence and communications exchanged between or among people who are not either Paul Colarusso or John Bodine, which we surmised was not your intention. You have the ability to revise your request in the event we have interpreted incorrectly.

Your request is denied to the extent it seeks communications to Mr. Bodine from Mr. Colarusso only, or vice versa, because those records are not in our possession. Only records kept by a public office are public records. R.C. 149.43(A).

Your request is also denied to the extent it seeks communications to or from me and Mr. Colarusso and/or Mr. Bodine, because those communications have been prepared in preparation for trial in Graham v. City of Lakewood, et al. and are therefore not public records pursuant to R.C. 149.43(a)(1)(g). Additionally, your request for my communications seeks records prepared by the defendants in the same lawsuit. The defendants, including the city, which is represented by me, have exchanged joint defense information in confidence with the intent and for the purpose of facilitating the rendition of legal services concerning common defense interests, with the expectation that the information will remain privileged and confidential and will not be disclosed without the prior written consent of all of the defense parties. State ex rel. ESPN v. Ohio State Univ., 132 Ohio St.3d 212, 2012-Ohio-2690. We do not have the consent of the parties to release this information.

At the time Huron was engaged, the issues included in their engagement were directly implicated in the lawsuit filed by Mr. Graham and others, and they remain so. As such, because these trial preparation records and joint defense communications to or from me and Mr. Colarusso and/or Mr. Bodine are exempted from the Public Records Act or are not records, they will not be provided.

The foregoing is not an outright denial of your request. We have located and attach to this email records that are communications between (1) Councilman Bullock and/or Mayor Summers, and (2) Mr. Colarusso and/or Mr. Bodine. These are the only public records responsive to No. 120 of your March 15, 2016 request, and thus this completes our response to that request.

Best wishes,

Kevin M. Butler, Director of Law
City of Lakewood | Law Department
(216) 529-6034
kevin.butler@lakewoodoh.net

[Bridget Conant]

Here is what Butler's excuses sound like to a tax paying city resident:

"If it could, in any way, implicate me, the mayor, or council, then it is no longer a Public Record."

[Lori Allen _]

Don't forget that Cindy Marx received a fairly large campaign contribution from the managing director of Huron Consulting. I believe it was around $1000.

So, neither Huron nor Thompson Hine were actually independent.

[Brian Essi]

So we now have documented proof that Huron was used: (1) by Butler in collaboration with CCF to defend politically corrupt practices and decisions; and (2) by Bullock, Butler and Summers in using a adulterated email to influence an editorial endorsement and election.

Did the other city council members know this know that Huron was used for advocacy and political purposes when they relied on the Huron Report to justify the Master Agrreement?

Either way, the legislation adopting theMaster Agreement has now been undermined and proven to be corrupt