the money to pay for attorney Charles P. Bauer of Concord and his legal team came out of the city attorney’s line item budget, and estimated that cost to be somewhere between $20,000 and $25,000. The city hired Bauer’s firm because it has more experiences with these kinds of cases than the city attorney, officials said.
Was the city manager able to authorize this spending on his own without consulting the city council? IF the council was consulted, what was the vote and relevant discussion?
In reality, Gallagher, Callahan, and Gartrell was hired because they are the go-to law firm for NH government agencies. That’s what MacLean (or presumably MacLean – the Sentinel story cites city “officials” as the source of this claim) means when he says the firm “has more experiences with these kinds of cases”. Bauer’s clients are frequently cities, towns, and likely state agencies. He and his associates live off the taxpayer trough in all manner of frivolous and aggressive court litigation on behalf of municipalities.
Now, Bauer will likely be pressing to appeal to the NH Supreme Court, and it should be interesting to see how “the City” handles the prospect of an appeal now that people know how much “the City” has already spent. (more…)
As usual, the freedom haters are out in force on the Facebook comments on the WMUR piece and those on the Sentinel story. The haters continue to echo the city’s libelous claims about Robin Hooders harassing, intimidating, and threatening the parking enforcement offers, DESPITE the fact that the city’s expensive private attorneys failed to provide any evidence of such behavior in court.
Robin Hood and the Merry Men and Women are victorious over the lying, corrupt “City of Keene” in BOTH Robin Hood cases! The first civil case was filed by “the City” back in May seeking a preliminary injunction against the six named respondents, in hopes banning them from being near, speaking to, or recording video of the parking enforcers. It was heard over three full days of court “evidentiary hearings” later in the summer and afterwards, heroic free speech attorney Jon Meyer filed a motion to dismiss the case.
Attorney Meyer’s motion has now been granted in a 17-page notice of decision from Cheshire “superior” court judge John C Kissinger Jr., which also dismisses the second civil case against us that was filed by “the City” in September, seeking monetary “damages”. The second suit proved what we all knew and the city people had originally denied with their first lawsuit – that ultimately this was about their lost parking revenue.
Ultimately, the Robin Hooders have been completely vindicated. The city people were lying (as is typical of governments) when they claimed Robin Hooders were harassing, intimidating, and threatening their parking enforcement agents. Again, the proof that they were lying is that no Robin Hooder has ever been arrested for “harassment”. Even if Robin Hooders were saying nasty things (no evidence of that was presented in court, and I’ve never seen it happen), the job description of the parking enforcers makes it clear they must put up with “mental and verbal abuse” from members of the public. The city people tried to illegally oppress our right to free speech and to hold government agents accountable for their actions, and the court made the right decision and dismissed their frivolous, aggressive, unconstitutional cases against us.
In the notice of decision, judge Kissinger notes that the free speech rights of the Robin Hooders outweigh all of the claims of “the City”: (more…)
The Civil Disobedience panel at Keenevention 2013 was presented by the star of “Victimless Crime Spree” and the host of Peace News Now, Derrick J Freeman. The panel’s focus was perhaps the most controversial form of activism – civil disobedience and noncooperation. Keenevention is certainly not the first time a civil disobedience panel has been presented at a liberty gathering, but it is the first time in many years that Russell Kanning, one of the original movers to Keene, returns to the stage! Russell was instrumental in making Keene the destination for future waves of activists who would emulate his peaceful disobedience. Russell was joined by another original Free State Project mover and liberty civil disobedience pioneer, Lauren Canario as well as yours truly, Ian Freeman.
In a blog post published here this summer, it was asked what the “City of Keene” hiring of hotshot private attorneys Eric G. Moskowitz and Charles P. Bauer would cost taxpayers. Now we have an initial idea. According to the Keene Sentinel’s feature story on the Robin Hood case dismissal, city boss John MacLean claims,![jester_moscowitz_bauer[1]](https://i0.wp.com/freekeene.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/jester_moscowitz_bauer1-300x123.jpg?resize=300%2C123)
Now, Bauer will likely be pressing to appeal to the NH Supreme Court, and it should be interesting to see how “the City” handles the prospect of an appeal now that people know how much “the City” has already spent. (more…)
Here’s a current rundown of the media the 
