By Steve Taylor
For the Leader
Jefferson County officials have filed a request for an order of protection that, if granted, would prevent three members of the County Council from speaking with their administrative assistant, Pat Schlette.
The request stemmed from a March 22 incident that involved Schlette, County Councilman Jim Terry (District 7, Cedar Hill), county counselor Tony Dorsett and an attorney, Robert Schultz of Chesterfield.
Schultz is representing Councilwoman Renee Reuter (District 2, Imperial) in a lawsuit alleging violations of the Missouri Sunshine Law, or open records and meetings law, brought by Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley.
Schultz also is representing the County Council, which also is named as a defendant in the suit.
A trial date for the suit, which is being heard by Circuit Judge Joseph Walsh III of St. Louis County, has not yet been set.
Order of protection
County Executive Ken Waller said he ultimately approved the filing of the request.
“After this (the March 22 incident) happened, the county counselors (Tony Dorsett and Jason Cordes), the director of administration (David Courtway) and our human resources director (Nicole Crawford) got together and decided that the county should try to get some protection for Ms. Schlette,” Waller said. “It was decided that this (requesting the order) might be the best way to go about it.
“I had to sign off on it, and I figured it was something we needed to do, to make sure our employee is not harassed,” he said.
The request for the order of protection asks that all seven of the County Council members be restrained from communicating with Schlette, a witness in the case against Reuter, about it while it is going on. The request also asks that Reuter, Terry and council chairman Don Bickowski (District 1, Eureka) limit all communications with Schlette to written form, except during council meetings and work sessions.
Walsh has yet to rule on the request for the order of protection, which was filed by Cordes, the assistant county counselor.
According to the request, Terry went on March 22 to Schlette’s office in the Jefferson County Justice Center, 400 First St., in Hillsboro to search for emails concerning the lawsuit because, in her role as administrative assistant, she had access to the archived emails of all seven council members.
In his court response to the Cordes; filing, Schultz said Terry was directed by Bickowski to search for the emails in response to a request by Hawley’s office.
According to the request, Terry asked Schlette to turn her computer over to him so that he could do the searches himself, and Schlette told Terry that she was uncomfortable doing so.
The request noted under the county’s codes, employees are not to allow others to use their computer IDs and passwords.
Terry then called Bickowski, who directed Schlette that “she needed to do this” because “she works for the County Council,” according to the court document.
Attorneys squabble
Schlette then called Dorsett, even though Terry told her not to, the document said. After Dorsett arrived, Schlette started to explain the situation to him, and Terry “loudly and abruptly yelled (at Schlette) to ‘shut up!’”
Terry then called Schultz and placed him on speakerphone, and after Dorsett told him that he considered Terry’s actions toward Schlette to constitute harassment, Schultz reportedly told him to “shove it up his butt crack” and to “quit being a prig.”
In his response, Schultz wrote that Dorsett gave a “nonsensical answer” to his question about why he was stopping the search of emails. Schultz also said he told Dorsett he could “put that up your kiester.”
“I believe I said ‘kiester’ and not ‘butt crack,’ not that either word matters to his motion,” Schultz wrote.
In a telephone interview, Schultz reiterated his stance.
“I didn’t say the word they are accusing me of saying,” he said. “My mother might read this in the paper.”
Crawford also showed up and asked Terry to leave Schlette’s office, and Terry said he then got up and stood elsewhere in the office.
Schlette then left with Crawford.
Terry, in an interview, said he was frustrated with Schlette.
“I was asked to search for the requested documents by the council chair,” Terry said. “You have to understand that Pat works for the County Council, period. When Tony came in and she started to talk to him, I said, ‘No, Pat, no’ several times, but she didn’t pay attention. I then told her to shut up. I did nothing wrong. If somebody works for you and they’re ignoring your instructions, at some point, you get frustrated.”
Waller said all county employees work for the county and are under the ultimate authority of Courtway.
“While it’s true that someone who works in (Collector) Beth Mahn’s office may say that they work for her and she does supervise them, there’s a dotted line (on the county’s organizational chart) to David Courtway,” he said.
Waller said that Schlette’s workstation has since been moved to an undisclosed location.
Schlette, Dorsett, Cordes and Reuter all declined to comment. Bickowski said he could not comment since he had been out of the country on business and did not have full knowledge of the events.
In his response, Schultz said that “there was no attempt to intimidate a witness” and that Dorsett “unreasonably and mistakenly caused an argument by telling Ms. Schlette not to do the record searches.”
“What is really going on here is that (Dorsett) has a strong dislike for the Jefferson County Council,” Schultz’s response said.
Schultz also said in his response that the council would not retaliate against Schlette.
“First, to do so would be a crime. Second, defendants (the council) like Ms. Schlette and recognize that (Dorsett) ... has put her in a difficult position. Defendants wish to continue to work with Ms. Schlette with the warm relationship they have had for years without the improper interference of the county counselor.”
Lawsuit
The suit filed by Hawley alleges that Reuter directed Schlette to delete email messages containing invoices for legal services the council incurred concerning two lawsuits that required outside legal counsel.
In his answer to the original suit, Schultz said Reuter did nothing wrong.
“Even if everything the plaintiff (the attorney general) claims is true,” Schultz wrote, “Jefferson County had and kept multiple copies of the documents at issue” and that those documents have been made public.
The Leader has obtained copies of those invoices through a Sunshine Law request.
After Hawley filed the suit, Waller sent an email on Jan. 26 to former and current council members involved in the action that the county would not pay for Reuter’s defense or that of the council.
“It is Jefferson County’s position that our charter, Missouri statutes and Missouri case law never intended for Jefferson County ... to furnish legal services to and represent an officeholder when he or she is sued ... based upon a charge of knowingly and purposefully violating the Sunshine Law,” Waller wrote.
Bickowski said Reuter hired Schultz.
“As far as I know, Reuter’s side is picking that (the cost of Schultz’s services) up. As far as the council goes, he agreed to represent the rest of the council at no cost to the council. The council agreed to that because the council is incidental to the case.”
Hawley’s lawsuit asks the court to order penalties of up to $1,000 for each knowing violation of the Sunshine Law and up to $5,000 for each purposeful violation.