Colorado settles lawsuit claiming wildlife commissioners violated open meeting law
Colorado Parks and Wildlife settled a lawsuit brought by two national hunting groups accusing two Colorado Parks and Wildlife commissioners of violating the state's open meeting law.
Sportsmen's Alliance Foundation and Safari Club International brought the lawsuit against wildlife commissioners Jessica Beaulieu and Jack Murphy.
The complaint filed Nov. 21 in Denver District Court accused the two of having communication in violation of the open meeting law while authoring an opinion piece published Oct. 12, 2024, in the Durango Herald that encouraged a yes vote for Proposition 127, a citizen initiative to ban hunting of mountain lion, bobcats and lynx.
That measure failed in November with 55% voting against and 45% for the measure.
The suit claims the two commissioners met to discuss public business regarding the citizen initiative and that, "All meetings between two or more public officials where public business is discussed must be open to the public after notice of such a meeting is provided."
The Sportsmen's Alliance Foundation said in a news release that Colorado Parks and Wildlife made the correct decision to settle the case.
"We filed this suit to hold the commissioners accountable for violating the open-meeting law and making blatantly false statements about state hunting regulations in a failed attempt to persuade voters," Michael Jean, Litigation Counsel for Sportsmen's Alliance Foundation, said in the release. "This settlement does that. And the commissioners will have no excuses for future violations."
CPW spokesperson Travis Duncan told the Coloradoan that immediately after the op-ed was published, the agency started getting emails from the public stating the commissioners must have met in private to develop the op-ed in violation of the open meetings law.
"But that never occurred," Duncan wrote. "As explained by Commissioners Beaulieu and Murphy at the commission's November meeting in Lamar, the op-ed at issue was written by a third party and the commissioners just signed off on it, separately and without ever communicating with one another. Doing so didn't violate any law."
He said once the state proved in the lawsuit that the commissioners never communicated, plaintiffs decided to settle for $2,332 to avoid the expense of litigation.
The Sportsmen's Alliance Foundation said the settlement also included a requirement for the commission to receive training on the current open meeting law regarding serial communications, referred to as "daisy chains," as well as training on regulations regarding the take of mountain lion, bobcat and lynx because the opinion piece contained factual errors.
This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Colorado settles lawsuit over commissioners' mountain lion op-ed
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