In Hartzell’s free speech lawsuit against Kansas City, let legal process play out | Opinion
Hartzell Gray, a local media personality and podcaster known as Hartzell, is passionate about issues that affect Kansas Citians. So I was a bit surprised to learn about Hartzell’s First Amendment retaliation claims against Morgan Said, the former chief of staff for Mayor Quinton Lucas.
In a lawsuit filed against Said and Kansas City Wednesday in Jackson County Circuit Court, Hartzell claims that Said pressured Hartzell’s former bosses at KCUR to fire him. Said purportedly was not happy with Hartzell’s involvement with a protest at City Hall, according to the lawsuit.
Did Said, Lucas’ top aide at the time, phone the boss of a critic to silence dissent against City Hall?
I’ve worked with Said in the past and I can’t recall her ever coming across as vindictive. She may have not always agreed with something my colleagues or I wrote about her former boss, but I never witnessed any spitefulness towards us.
But in light of former City Manager Brian Platt’s recent dismissal, we’ve seen firsthand how petty politics can be at City Hall when it comes to people that hold the powerful in this city accountable.
Effort to silence dissent?
As a member of housing rights group KC Tenants, Hartzell participated in a protest during a City Council meeting on Aug. 18, 2022, according to the lawsuit. That day, KC Tenants “were protesting an ordinance City Council was voting on regarding relaxing affordable housing requirements for developers and changing the definition of who qualifies for affordable housing,” the lawsuit states.
The next day, Hartzell was told by a supervisor at KCUR that Said called the news outlet to question his political activities.
In the lawsuit, Hartzell alleges Said called KCUR’s then-news director Lisa Rodriguez after the protest and told Rodriguez that Hartzell’s personal and political activities could reflect poorly on the station and damage how people see KCUR.
“During the call between (Hartzell) and his supervisor, (Hartzell) was pulled off his shift that weekend, specifically because the mayor’s then-chief of staff called and issued a veiled threat to the entire station because (Hartzell) participated in a protest at City Hall,” the lawsuit states. “As a part-time hourly employee at KCUR, (Hartzell) lost pay since he did not work over the weekend.”
As a result of being removed from the air, Hartzell claims he was “distraught, confused, and scared that (city officials) were coming after him for engaging in protected activities,” the lawsuit contends.
If Said allegedly used the weight of the Mayor’s office to silence a protester, as the lawsuit contends, then we all should be concerned. This case bears watching. None of us should be OK with government officials allegedly putting pressure on employers to silence their workers from exercising their constitutional rights to free speech.
When reached Thursday, Said declined comment and referred me to the mayor’s office.
Who is Hartzell Gray?
Hartzell’s ubiquitous presence in Kansas City is well known. He’s done work as an in-stadium host with Sporting KC and hosted shows on the former KRBZ 96.5 FM, a popular Kansas City radio station once known as The Buzz.
He has also used his voice to highlight causes he is passionate about, including affordable housing and other human rights issues. But did speaking out against injustices and equitable access to affordable housing cost him his job at KCUR?
He is no longer employed at the station, and it is not known what policy he followed as a part-time employee. Hartzell declined to comment for this column other than to confirm that he last worked at KCUR in September 2023.
I reached out to Rodriguez, KCUR’s interim director of content, for more information on the outlet’s policy on political activities but she declined to comment.
In an emailed statement, Stacy Downs, a spokeswoman for KCUR, also declined to comment.
“KCUR is aware of a lawsuit, and it is our policy not to comment on pending litigation,” Downs wrote.
According to The Star’s David Hudnall, KCUR doesn’t address the issue in its ethics and practices policy posted online. (The ethics policies of The Star and parent company McClatchy Media preclude journalists from protesting as it is considered political activity.)
Mayor Quinton Lucas denies claims
When I spoke with Lucas on Thursday, he denied any involvement in this particular matter.
“I’m not a party in the lawsuit,” Lucas said.
When asked if he instructed Said to call KCUR’s Rodriguez — a happenstance that although not proven we must consider — Lucas said he did not.
Said stepped down as Lucas’ chief of staff last year.
“Morgan is a very effective communicator but I do not know the nature of what their conversation was,” he said.
There’s plausible deniability on Lucas’ side here, and I will take him for his word until evidence suggests otherwise. There is no guarantee that this lawsuit will make it to trial, but if it does, the truth will eventually come to light, much as it did in a recent whistleblower lawsuit against Platt, the former city manager.
In that case, Lucas testified that he was OK with Platt’s decision to demote former city communications director Chris Hernandez, who pushed back against Platt’s insistence that it was a good idea to lie to the media. A jury sided with Hernandez in a civil trial and awarded him nearly $1 million in damages.
Lucas took to X on Thursday to refute claims he had anything to do with the two calls Said allegedly made to KCUR regarding Hartzell.
“I was not a witness to the conversations, but even assuming plaintiff’s claims are fact, complaints about what someone says aren’t rare, controversial, or unlawful,” Lucas wrote in an exchange with X user Bret Hamiilton and others. “It seems to happen on here every minute — and even in this chat.”
In another post on the same exchange, Lucas said Hartzell’s claims appear to be an employer-employee dustup.
“Anyway, I look forward to learning more about what appears to be an employee and employer issue,” he wrote.
Later that day, the mayor’s office released a statement distancing itself from Hartzell’s claims of retaliation.
“The claim at its core appears to be an employment suit between a former employee, Mr. Gray, and his former employer, KCUR, that endeavors to cast blame unfairly on the City and our former colleague and friend,” the statement read. “The Mayor and the City visit regularly with the press, sharing facts, honest opinions, and feedback. … The claims against the City lack merit.”
Podcaster’s attorney speaks out
Other claims made by Hartzell that caught my attention include a meeting with Said that ended with her allegedly offering Hartzell a seat on one of two city committees. According to the lawsuit, Hartzell, a Kansas City resident, never did follow up with Said about the alleged offer.
Late Thursday, I received a statement from Hartzell’s attorney, Madison McBratney. In it, McBratney applauded her client for coming forward with his claims.
“What we must never allow is for the government to succeed in chilling the voices of its citizens,” McBratney said in the statement. ”Mayor Lucas’s effort to point culpability away from the City is attempting to do just that. The question should be: did Mayor Lucas’s Office seek retribution against a citizen for engaging in protected First Amendment activity?”
If there is any truth to Hartzell’s claims, then we all must ask ourselves: What is the point of the First Amendment?
This story was originally published April 11, 2025 at 11:03 AM.
