AURORA — A lawsuit against City Councilman Ryan Frazier that claimed he did not respond to an Aurora resident’s open-records request has been thrown out of court.
Foster Hines was seeking documents concerning Frazier’s campaign contributions.
Hines said board members of Carollo Engineers in Arizona donated about $1,500 to Frazier’s campaign on the same week last year that the council approved a $10 million contract for Carollo for the city’s Prairie Waters Project.
But Frazier, who co-authored a right-to-work ballot initiative, said Hines was being backed by a pro-labor group called Protect Colorado’s Future.
The group first brought the issue of Frazier’s donations to the attention of the media. It later went on to make a negative television commercial about Frazier, using the donation issue.
“I am so pleased that the judge saw this for what it is,” Frazier said. “It was absolutely politically motivated and had no merit whatsoever.”
Hines did not return phone calls for comment.
Frazier said there was no wrongdoing on his part in receiving the campaign money. He said his campaign submitted a mass e-mail to many people and some got to members of the Carollo board. He also noted that the entire City Council approved the contract.
In the motion to dismiss submitted Thursday, Arapahoe County Judge Cheryl Post wrote that Frazier was not the proper defendant in the suit. Instead, Hines should have sought the documents through the city, she said.
Post also ruled that Hines did not comply with the city’s administrative process or the Colorado Open Records Act.
Frazier said he was working with Hines to get the documents but that Hines filed the lawsuit anyway.
“It was never about getting the records,” Frazier said. “I would never deny any citizen access to my public records.”
Carlos Illescas: 303-954-1175 or cillescas@denverpost.com
