Missouri attorney general sues Kansas City, saying city ignored records requests
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey is suing Kansas City, alleging officials didn’t respond to requests for records in violation of the state’s Sunshine Law.
Bailey’s lawsuit, filed in Jackson County Circuit Court on Thursday, alleges Mayor Quinton Lucas’ office and the city manager’s office ignored public records requests from the state attorney general.
Bailey has demanded records related to a series of lawsuits involving a fight over Kansas City police funding.
“Missourians have a right to know how their money is being spent — and my office will not stand by while public officials try to hide the truth,” Bailey said in a statement on Friday. “Transparency is a fundamental obligation under Missouri law.”
Bailey’s office, which oversees and enforces the state’s open records law, has itself faced criticism over its release of public information, including records requests that languish for months. As a Republican attorney general, Bailey has also picked fights with Democratic-leaning Kansas City and St. Louis.
Still, Kansas City has come under scrutiny over its level of public openness. Earlier this month, The Star and other local news organizations signed a letter calling on the Kansas City Council and the mayor to provide better access to transparent and accurate information from City Hall.
The letter came after the City Council voted unanimously to fire Brian Platt, the former city manager, in late March, following a highly-publicized whistleblower lawsuit — and subsequent jury verdict — that revealed Platt suggested it was acceptable to lie to news organizations.
Bailey’s lawsuit is the latest in a prolonged fight between city and state officials over funding of the Kansas City Police Department, which is under state control. Some of the records Bailey’s office sought are financial documents from a lawsuit Lucas filed that overturned a ballot measure forcing the city to spend more of its budget on police.
A spokesperson for Lucas issued a lengthy statement in response to the lawsuit on Friday.
The statement, from spokesperson Megan Strickland, said that “once every six months or so Andrew Bailey threatens or files baseless legal action to harass Mayor Lucas and the people of Kansas City.”
“Today’s new press release/legal case with the City is no different and continues Mr. Bailey’s ongoing pattern of harassment of and infatuation with Mayor Lucas,” the statement said. “Having defeated Andrew Bailey at the Missouri Supreme Court and elsewhere, the mayor will trust the legal process to resolve expeditiously this matter, and hope that Mr. Bailey returns to his primary job of addressing crime in Missouri, rather than his ongoing and one-sided fixation with the mayor.”
The statement went on to say that much of the information Bailey has requested has already been produced to Bailey’s office “in connection with prior litigation.”
The information, the statement said, was also highlighted in an opinion piece published by The Star that detailed how Kansas City spent $2.3 million on legal fees in the fight over police funding.
A spokesperson for the city manager’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The lawsuit’s allegations
The legal action asks a judge to find that Kansas City violated the state’s open records law, called the Sunshine Law, on three occasions, which would make the city subject to fines. It asks for the city to produce the requested records and award Bailey’s office all associated costs and fees.
Bailey’s office submitted three identical public records requests to Lucas, the city and Platt’s office on March 3, according to the lawsuit. The requests demanded records related to specific legal actions stemming from state laws over police funding.
The city responded to the request, saying that it would provide a cost estimate within 15 days and likely provide the documents within 20 days of receiving payment of those costs. But as of Thursday, the city has not provided the cost estimate or the records, the lawsuit said.
“The City failed to provide the requested records or deliver a detailed explanation of the cause for further delay,” the lawsuit said in part.
Bailey and his predecessor as attorney general, U.S. Sen. Eric Schmitt, have used the office to file a series of headline-grabbing lawsuits, including against the Democratic-leaning cities of Kansas City and St. Louis.
Bailey has previously attacked Lucas over his 2023 lawsuit that challenged the ballot language of a 2022 statewide vote that forced Kansas City to spend more on its police as misleading. After the Missouri Supreme Court sided with Lucas and scrapped the results of the vote, Bailey posted that it was a “sad day when local leaders sprint to court to stab their law enforcement in the back.”
A new election was held over the measure last year, where 51.18% of voters across the state voted to force Kansas City to spend more of its general revenue on police.
