ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ

Councilman Tim Fitch, R-3rd District, plans to introduce a resolution at the next council meeting to release any federal subpoenas the county received related to possible criminal violations since Jan. 1, 2020 — the first day Page appointee Tony Weaver began working at the county jail.

Page fired Weaver on June 7 after Weaver was charged with attempting to defraud a small business grant program funded by COVID-19 relief money on behalf of an area businessman, intending to split the proceeds. Weaver has pleaded not guilty.

A vote would force the county’s legislative body to take a position on whether any subpoenas should be made public, something Page has declined to do, saying he was deferring to County Counselor Beth Orwick’s interpretation that the records are closed.

It was unclear Friday how the seven-member council would vote. Fitch, a longtime Page opponent, is part of a bipartisan four-person council majority. Councilman Mark Harder, R-7th District, said he was in favor, but Council Chair Rita Days, D-1st District, and Councilwoman Shalonda Webb, D-4th District, did not respond to messages requesting comment.

Two Page allies — Councilwoman Lisa Clancy, D-5th District, and Councilwoman Kelli Dunaway, D-2nd District — indicated they would be unlikely to support the resolution.

“I do not think we should get involved in ongoing federal investigations,� Dunaway said.

Clancy said she was “eager to see the resolution� and would “spend the few days thinking through the merits of this request.�

Councilman Ernie Trakas, R-6th District, did not respond to a request for comment.

Page spokesman Doug Moore on Friday referred to a statement by Orwick that maintained the records were closed “in compliance with the Sunshine Law.�

The statement had been issued a day prior when a Missouri Sunshine Law expert told the newspaper that the county’s decision to not release federal subpoenas would only make sense if it planned to fight them. But Page has pledged to cooperate with the federal investigation.

Orwick’s office on June 9 declined a Post-Dispatch request for the records, citing a Sunshine provision that allows records to remain closed if they relate to “legal actions, causes of action or litigation involving a public governmental body and any confidential or privileged communications between a public governmental body or its representatives and its attorneys.�

The county’s decision not to release the records runs counter to the legal interpretation by attorneys for the city of St. Louis, which released federal subpoenas to a Post-Dispatch request two weeks ago.

And it reverses Page’s 2019 position when he voted to release subpoenas related to an investigation of then-County Executive Steve Stenger. The County Council voted 5-0 to release the subpoenas issued to the county by Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Goldsmith. Those subpoenas had been provided to the council by County Counselor Peter Krane.

Prior to the vote, then-Council Chair Page told reporters about the contents of the subpoena, saying it was necessary for transparency and the public interest.

Fitch said Friday that he was taking the same stance: “The public still has a right to know,� he said.

Fitch, Harder, Trakas and Clancy had also voted in favor of releasing the subpoenas to the county in 2019.

But Clancy said Friday that the comparison was out of line: “This is a different situation than in 2019 when there was a clear consensus from the Council that our County Executive was likely a criminal,� Clancy said.

“Despite some obvious political factions that have emerged since then, we have no evidence that the County Executive’s office is under investigation.�

Fitch took a similar tack in a letter to Page and Orwick last week calling for the release of the subpoenas; Page referred the request to Goldsmith, who is leading the prosecution of Weaver as well as separate cases involving three former members of the St. Louis Board of Aldermen.

Goldsmith, in a response to Orwick sent Tuesday, said that it was “St. Louis County’s decision whether or not those grand jury subpoenas are disclosable� under the Sunshine Law.

Fitch and Harder said Friday that Goldsmith’s email indicated didn’t object to the county releasing any federal subpoenas.

“If that information would jeopardize that case, I would think that Mr. Goldsmith and others would say that and say we can’t reveal it,� Harder said. “But he doesn’t say that.�

Orwick, a former federal prosecutor, said in her statement that “extensive caselaw about the importance of the confidentiality of grand jury proceedings, which protects jurors, promotes the freedom of disclosure because it protects jurors, prevents escape of the subject of an investigation before their arrest, and protects the reputations of people who are not indicted.�

Jacob Barker of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.

Posted at 6:15 p.m. Friday, June 17.