Commissioners ramrod expensive lawsuit

When Sandpoint residents first learned the county commissioners had initiated a lawsuit against the city over the Festival at Sandpoint’s gun ban, the immediate thought for many was, “Are we paying to sue ourselves and how much will this cost?”

Answers are slowly being revealed through public record requests. The first one produced the legal contract signed on Aug. 27 by George Wentz of New Orleans-based Davillier Law. Wentz lives in Sagle, but is not licensed to practice law in Idaho. He consults at $250 per hour, with two inexperienced lawyers filing briefs at $175 per hour.

My second record request asked for Davillier’s 2019 invoices. This was denied. Dates, hours, rate of pay, dollar amounts, have been blanketed as privileged; even though designated redactions are common in legal record requests.

My third request for clear payments to Davillier in 2019 brought forth 13 checks totaling $233,735 issued to a New Orleans’ address. Between the August contract and end of October, three checks total $95,500. We’re unable to break these figures down because the commissioners refused to release the invoices.

The only public official to respond to my reading these large figures into the public record was Auditor Mike Rosedale. He admitted this lawsuit will be, “a huge amount of taxpayers’ money.”

On a near weekly basis, the commissioners meet with George Wentz in secret executive meetings. Frequent claims of transparency, largely expounded in social media by Commissioner Dan McDonald, is quite disingenuous.

The County could take another route. Prosecuting Attorney Louis Marshall could request a legal opinion on the statue in question from our state attorney general. This would be free of cost.

Concerned citizens should ask that this step be taken before commissioners further ramrod us into an expensive lawsuit with expensive consulting fees.

While researching Davillier Law, I discovered some troubling information about George Wentz. In 2016-17, a small county in Utah was charged $485,600 for consulting fees in regards to Bears Ears National Monument.

Wentz’s legal work involved drafting documents to lobby for reduction of this Native American property to permit uranium extraction for state and county profits.

According to a report by The Salt Lake Tribute, Wentz padded his bill. In a single day, he charged $8,285, which included 5.5 hours at $500 an hour sitting on $900 first-class flight. A partial reimbursement had to be made because “reasonable expenses” was specified in their county’s contract. Bonner County has no such provision written in its Davillier contract.

My fourth record request for Wentz’s “time and expense reports” per the contract was recently denied. And my fifth request for November’s legal fees is now pending.

Another revealing finding came from Dan McDonald’s 2018 campaign finance report.

He accepted $1,000 from George Wentz, plus $399.75 restaurant tab paid by Susan Wentz. Politics 102, “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.”

It was a staged confrontation at the Festival at Sandpoint’s gate that drove us to this orchestrated lawsuit.

Before we go off the cliff, citizens need to demand it be withdrawn. If it goes forward, the biggest winner will be Wentz lining his pockets.

REBECCA HOLLAND

Sandpoint