Independence mayor asked about campaign donations in deposition, but advised to stay mum
Independence Mayor Eileen Weir was asked in a deposition last year about campaign contributions she received from a Missouri company looking to do business with the city.
The donations have raised questions among other city council members and drew the interest of the FBI.
But a transcript of that deposition obtained by The Star shows she mostly avoided the topic after her personal attorney objected to the line of questioning and advised her not to answer questions about the contributions.
The mayor was questioned under oath in November as part of a defamation lawsuit against the city and two council members. The suit stems from comments that two council members made in a March 2020 article in The Kansas City Star.
At that time, the city had received a proposal from a collection of businesses led by Titan Fish Partners LLC to repurpose its Blue Valley Municipal Power Generating Plant into a biofuels production facility. But two council members immediately objected to the proposal, because of the people involved.
Though Weir is not a party in the suit, she gave the first deposition, answering a wide range of questions that touched on several utility projects the city has contemplated in recent years.
Weir asked a judge to seal her deposition, making it inaccessible to the public and the press.
The Star sought to intervene in the lawsuit to unseal the deposition transcript. In a motion in Jackson County court, The Star argued that Weir failed to show any legal cause for sealing her deposition and that its closure was a violation of First Amendment protections.
In February, as Weir announced she would quit her reelection campaign, her lawyer filed a motion reversing Weir’s stance and consented to unsealing the deposition. The Star recently obtained a copy of the 160-page transcript.
The deposition transcript provides little insight into why the mayor suddenly dropped out of her re-election race. But it does provide a window into her private dealings with business figures whose involvement in city projects has raised questions from other elected officials and the public.
Weir was questioned about campaign donations from Gardner Capital, a St. Louis private equity firm that together with Lee’s Summit-based MC Power played a role in one of the utility projects that drew interest from federal investigators in recent years. The city purchased the former Rockwood Golf Club in 2017 and transformed it into a solar farm that generates enough electricity to power 1,800 homes.
But the deal was hotly contested, as the city purchased the property from Joe Campbell, owner of Titan Fish. He bought the property just months before from its longtime owner for $550,000, then sold it to the city for nearly $1 million.
Campbell told The Star that he was only involved in the project because city officials approached him and encouraged him to buy the property.
Weir in particular came under scrutiny for her vote on the solar farm because of campaign donations. Her campaign received four $2,600 donations in late October 2017 — just days before voting on the project — from PACs partially funded by Gardner Capital. The PACs are also connected to Steve Tilley, Gardner Capital’s lobbyist. Tilley is a former Missouri speaker of the House and a longtime adviser to Missouri Gov. Mike Parson.
In her November 10 deposition, Weir’s attorney instructed her not to answer questions about those donations. Her lawyer characterized the question as off course from the matters in the lawsuit and said the plaintiff’s attorney was “personally attacking” the mayor for purposes related to her re-election bid.
But Weir did respond, in part, despite her lawyer’s advice.
She noted that Mark Gardner, chairman of Gardner Capital, made a contribution to her campaign, which she reported to the Missouri Ethics Commission. He did make a $500 donation in April 2017, MEC records show. But in her answer, Weir did not address the much larger PAC contributions.
Weir said she met Gardner at a dedication event for a separate city solar farm. He struck up a conversation with her husband, she said, and they arranged to have a private dinner. She said they didn’t discuss particular city projects at that meal.
“I think it was dinner with him in Independence, and just visited about business,” she testified. “Nothing related to the city, just, you know, learn a little bit about maybe, you know, each other’s businesses.”
Weir previously denied that the donations had anything to do with her vote. She told The Star that she was a supporter of the solar farm long before the donations or vote took place, “so I didn’t need to be persuaded.”
The Jefferson City lobbyist
Tilley’s name comes up dozens of times in the deposition.
In 2016, Tilley’s firm inked a lucrative contract with the Independence City Council. Prior to that time, the city had one lobbyist, which cost the city $61,000 per year. But council members pushed to add a separate contract with Tilley’s Strategic Capitol Consulting that year to represent Independence Power & Light.
The city now spends $120,000 a year for his services representing the utility interests and another $120,000 representing city interests.
Weir testified to numerous personal conversations with Tilley. She said she attended the funeral of Tilley’s mother in Johnson County and recounted being invited to the governor’s state of the state address and a private reception afterwards at Tilley’s invitation
Weir also warned Tilley about doing business with Campbell after reading a news article.
In October 2021, the Missouri Independent reported that the federal government seized two vehicles and threatened to seize a lake house that Campbell allegedly purchased illegally with COVID-19 relief money. Campbell declined to comment on those matters to The Star.
“My recollection is something along the lines of I told Steve Tilley — that I told him to be careful,” Weir said.
“Why did you tell him to be careful?” the plaintiff’s attorney asked.
“Because Steve Tilley represents the City of Independence,” the mayor said.
While the city had already worked on other projects with Campbell, late last year Weir said she was concerned about his track record. After meeting with the investor on multiple occasions, she said she called mayors in Johnson County to ask about Campbell’s activities. But none of the people she talked with knew of him.
“That was, you know, I’m going to say a little bit of a red flag that — I was just, you know, starting to get the sense that this — the story wasn’t really adding up,” she said. “That Mr. Campbell was presented to me, his company, as somebody who was very active in development in the Kansas City area. But nobody I was familiar with seemed to know him or could show me any of the projects that he had done.”
Weir also testified that she was concerned about Tilley’s potential involvement in redeveloping the Blue Valley plant. She said that was a conflict of interest since he’s already contracted to represent the city as its lobbyist.
Campbell’s company has previously hired Tilley’s firm as a lobbyist. On Monday, Campbell said the lobbying company would be important in gaining state and federal regulatory permits for completing a major rehaul of the Blue Valley power plant. While the council has not made any move with that property, he said Tilley remains interested in working with him on the endeavor if it were to be approved.
Tilley could not be reached for comment. A spokeswoman for his firm said Tilley had not seen the deposition. She said the lobbying firm no longer represents Campbell or his company, Titan Fish.
At the Rockwood Golf Club, the city leased 29 acres of the property to MC Power, which paid $500,000 for its 30-year agreement. The city’s electric utility purchases the power generated at the site, but because of its contracted rate — which is significantly higher than market rates for power — the arrangement costs Independence Power & Light tens of thousands of dollars each year.
The project continues to prove controversial, as two council members in December sought to have the solar panels removed and relocated.
In 2019, Andy Boatright, the former acting director of Independence Power & Light, told The Star that the utility wanted to consider a procurement process to find the most cost-effective way of expanding its solar power portfolio, but that was “something that staff was not allowed to pursue.”
“My impression, and I believe this to be true, was that MC Power principals were doing an end-around on the procurement process in Independence and going directly to their friends on the city council,” Boatright said. “And the city council then ensured that MC Power would be the selected vendor and the provider for this installment of community solar.”
Power plant vote
In the same year, the council made another controversial move with a separate utility facility.
The council voted to approve a $9.75 million bid to Environmental Operations to tear down a shuttered power plant in Missouri City. The vote sparked outrage as the city had received another bid for $4.45 million from another firm, Commercial Liability Partners.
The bid was awarded despite the objection of the city’s Public Utilities Advisory Board, a group that gives recommendations to Independence Power & light. Boatright said the staff did not want to recommend Environmental Operations because the lower bidder “had more relevant experience and the decision was ultimately taken out of our hands.”
Environmental Operations is owned by Stacy Hastie, a regular donor to Tilley in the General Assembly who lent him a private plane to attend campaign events. Tilley’s relationship with Hastie has drawn attention before, most notably in 2012 when lawmakers earmarked more than $1 million to a project being co-developed by Hastie’s company.
Weir said she only met Hastie after the city approved the contract with Environmental Operators.
John Diehl, another former Missouri House speaker, served as Environmental Operations’ general counsel when the Independence contract was awarded. Diehl resigned from the legislature in 2015 after The Star revealed his relationship with a 19-year-old statehouse intern.
In her deposition, Weir’s attorney instructed her not to answer questions about Diehl. She did not.
A judge has dismissed the lawsuit against the city. But the suit will proceed against the two council members: former Councilman Scott Roberson and Councilwoman Karen DeLuccie, who is seeking re-election to a third term in the April 5 election.
