Group cites violations of open meetings law during election season.
Two weeks ago, voters in the Centennial State rejected Proposition 127, a proposal to ban hunting and trapping mountain lions, bobcats, and lynx in the state.
This was a great win for sportsmen and for science-based wildlife management. But the controversy behind Prop 127 isn’t over. The Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation and Safari Club International are suing two Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) Commissioners and the commission itself under the state’s open meetings law.
More than 50 years ago, Colorado voters ushered in a new era of transparency by approving the Sunshine Act of 1972.
The Sunshine Act codified Colorado’s Open Meetings Law, which declares “that the formation of public policy is public business and may not be conducted in secret.” To that end, 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.
Two anti-hunting CPW commissioners apparently didn’t get the memo. Commissioners Jack Murphy and Jessica Beaulieu – joined by former commissioner James Pribyl – got together and authored an Op-Ed titled “Current and Former CPW commissioners endorse Prop 127.” That Op-Ed criticizes mountain lion and bobcat hunting as a “highly unpopular, unscientific and unwarranted abuse and exploitation that in no way contributes to our bright future … in our great state of Colorado.” At the time the Op-Ed was written, the CPW Commission was considering a revised mountain lion management plan for the Eastern Slope, which unanimously passed last week. Discussions relating to mountain lion hunting and management were therefore official business before the CPW Commission, requiring an open meeting under the law.
“Rather than following the law, CPW Commissioners Beaulieu and Murphy published an opinion piece in support of their personal ideologies,” the lawsuit alleges. “The CPW Commissioners’ breach of their obligations [put] false information into the public discourse. This false information could have been corrected and this harm could have been avoided if CPW Commissioners Beaulieu and Murphy had met their obligations to involve the public in matters of public business.”
“There is no excuse for the violation,” said Michael Jean, Litigation Counsel for Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation. “Former Commissioner Pribyl, who co-authored the Op-Ed, lost a case and an appeal for violating the Open Meetings Law when he served on the commission. They knew their obligations under the law, and their actions fell far short of what is required.”
Violating the law is bad enough, but the real irony is how many factual errors the Op-Ed contains while simultaneously declaring that commissioners “are held to a higher standard … of science, not mere opinion and conjecture.”
One would think that standard would include familiarity with basic wildlife-management facts and commission-promulgated regulations. Sadly, that was not the case. The Op-Ed claimed that hunters are “often aided by drones” when the commission’s own regulations prohibit that. They claim that mountain lion hunts “[guarantee] success at 100%.” The real number is closer to 20%. And perhaps the most absurd was their claim that “wild cats” are “animals not involved in any human conflict.” There are numerous press releases on CPW’s own website to the contrary, including an incident from 2023 where CPW euthanized a mountain lion after it swatted a girl, leaving a puncture wound on her face. And just last week, a school in Greely, Colo., was placed on lock down when a mountain lion entered the campus.
The lawsuit was filed in the Denver County District Court. Stay tuned for further developments as the case proceeds.
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Fantastic, you go Sportsman Alliance Foundation and Safari Club International. Lefturds need to be punished much more severely. The Open Meetings Law, my state has one too, is generally swatted away by lefturds as this ex commissioner Pribyl who knew better shows and just look at the statements from the dimocRAT Bucks County Pennsylvania Commissioner last week about ignoring laws they disagree with. This is the 3rd time Pribyl has been involved with a court case due to his ignorant ideological hubris. 3rd strikes and you’re out? Perhaps a lengthy stay in a Colorado cooler and a bankruptcy quality level… Read more »