The top attorney at alleges in a newly filed lawsuit that Denver’s city attorney suggested launching a baseless investigation as a way to protect millions of dollars in federal funding for the airport after the City Council rejected a contract with a small airline because it works with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Everett Martinez, , alleged in the federal lawsuit brought against the city Wednesday that he repeatedly warned Denver officials that their actions in both the council’s vote against Key Lime Air and the land-swap deal to acquire the Park Hill Golf Course could violate the airport’s agreement to receive funding from the — and put all future grants in jeopardy.
Jon Ewing, a spokesman for Mayor Mike Johnston, called the lawsuit’s allegations “horse(expletive) from a disgruntled employee” and denied any wrongdoing by city officials.
“The city attorney didn’t say the things listed here,” Ewing said. “No one called for a fake investigation on Key Lime. And the Park Hill deal was and is entirely legal and followed all FAA obligations as well as federal law.”
The lawsuit alleges that city officials ignored Martinez’s legal advice and then retaliated against him, culminating in placing him on administrative leave on March 11 with the instruction that he needed to resign by Wednesday or he would be “removed,” according to the 42-page complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado.
Martinez remained on administrative leave Wednesday afternoon, said his attorney, Steven Murray.
The City Council’s Dec. 15 vote to reject Key Lime Air’s request to lease space at DIA because the airline works with ICE drew national attention this month when U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, called for a review of the airport’s grant funding. He estimated the airport could lose as much as $385 million in grants.
The city was aware that rejecting the contract put at least $90 million in grant funding at risk, Councilwoman Sarah Parady said in December. Martinez claimed he warned top city officials that rejecting Key Lime Air’s contract over ideological concerns — rather than safety issues — would violate the airport’s grant agreement with the FAA and could result in the airport losing access to all of its federal funding.
Two weeks after the vote, the FAA emailed the airport to “express concerns” about the City Council’s vote, according to the lawsuit. A spokeswoman for the airport, Courtney Law, declined to comment on the lawsuit Wednesday.
“…The stated rationale for the lease denial appears to be unrelated to airport operational, safety or capacity considerations and instead is based on opposition to the tenantap aeronautical activities,” the FAA’s Dec. 31 letter read, according to the lawsuit.
Ian Gregor, spokesman for the FAA, could not immediately say Wednesday whether the agency was investigating the airport’s compliance with grant funding requirements.
A few days after the FAA’s notice, during a Jan. 6 meeting between and airport leadership, Brown asked airport officials to investigate Key Lime Air for safety concerns, Martinez alleged in the lawsuit.
“If the FAA comes knocking, I want to be able to have it in my back pocket that council was also voting because of safety issues, but that they ran out of time to get talking about that before voting,” the lawsuit alleges Brown said during the meeting.
Melissa Sisneros, spokeswoman for the Denver City Attorney’s Office, declined to comment.
Martinez rejected Brown’s proposal, which he considered to be unethical and illegal, he alleged in the lawsuit.
“It was a fabricated investigation, a fabricated reason,” Murray said. “The city had already acted. This was a cover-your-backside investigation, and he refused to do that.”
The Key Lime Air situation was not the first time Martinez believed the city’s actions put grant money at risk. He also raised concerns that Denver’s land-swap deal to acquire the Park Hill Golf Course violated the FAA’s rules for federal funding, he said in the lawsuit.
In that deal, the city gave 165 acres of airport land to developer Westside Investment Partners in exchange for the 155-acre Park Hill Golf Course. Martinez believed the airport received less than fair market value for the land it gave up, which he believed violated FAA mandates, among other issues with the deal.
Martinez alleged in the lawsuit that one city official instructed him to withhold information from the FAA about the developer receiving the property and instead inform the FAA only that the city and airport were swapping the land. He refused, according to the lawsuit, but it was not clear what information the city and airport initially shared with the FAA.
He additionally alleged that Acting City Attorney Katie McLaughlin called him at 7:09 p.m. Aug. 6 and told him not to keep records of the deal. Martinez immediately called three people to tell them about the call, the lawsuit says, among other allegations.
“Due to the shocking nature of the call, he documented it immediately,” Murray said.
Martinez alleged in the lawsuit that city officials retaliated against him after he raised concerns in the two cases, including by passing him over for a reclassification that would have resulted in a $50,000 raise. He received a poor performance evaluation in January after he filed a complaint with human resources.
“Martinez has not been asked to violate the law or city policy,” said Ewing, the mayor’s spokesman. “He has not been drawn into a conspiracy. What he has done is violate his ethical obligations to the city by taking personal positions that were in opposition to those held by his own client — which is the city and county of Denver — and by disclosing information protected by attorney-client privilege.”
In the lawsuit, Martinez said he considered himself to be an attorney for the airport, not for the city.
“The city went from being, I think, careless and not dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s to at some point just ignoring what he had to say,” Murray said.
