Two influential hunting organizations are suing members of the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission saying they violated Colorado Open Meetings Law and spread false information about mountain lion hunting prior to last month’s vote on Proposition 127, which would have banned the hunting and trapping of mountain lions, lynx and bobcats.  

When the proposition failed by a margin of less than 5 percentage points, it marked the first time since 1992 that Colorado voters rejected a wildlife ballot proposal and stirred hope among some of a bridging of Colorado’s urban-rural divide. 

But Safari Club International and The Sportsmens Alliance Foundation sued commissioners Jessica Beaulieu and Jack Murphy as well as former commissioner James Pribyl  in Denver County Court over an opinion piece published in The Durango Herald on Oct. 12, supporting the proposition. 

Beaulieu and Murphy both represent outdoor recreation and parks utilization on the commission. 

The piece criticized lion hunting as a “highly unpopular, unscientific and unwarranted abuse and exploitation” of wildlife that “in no way contributes” to the “bright future of ethical outdoor recreation” in Colorado. 

It also called out “a small lion-hunting industry” that guarantees 100% trophy lion harvest, the needless killing of female lions, and CPW itself, for offering cougar hunting “to serve mountain lion hunters alone, for a recreational opportunity.” 

The Safari Club and the Sportsmen’s Alliance are alleging Beaulieu and Murphy violated Colorado’s Open Meetings Law because the column was written while the commission was actively considering a revised mountain lion management plan for the Eastern Slope. The management plan passed unanimously Nov. 15 after extensive public comment opposing the plan. 

The lawsuit also alleges Murphy and Beaulieu had to have discussed writing the column that “flatly — and falsely — criticized Colorado’s current mountain lion and bobcat management programs” outside of a public meeting.  

“But the hunting of mountain lions and bobcats is ‘public business’ under the Open Meetings Law,” the lawsuit alleges, and “the CPW Commissioners had these discussions without appropriate public notice and opportunity to participate.” 

And the plaintiffs, calling the op-ed itself “a meeting under the Open Meetings Law,” say it harmed them because it put “false information into the public discourse.” 

The organizations are asking the court to find Murphy and Beaulieu violated the law and to prohibit them from doing it again. 

Neither hunting group responded to requests for comment. 

“Commissioners can speak as private citizens”  

In an Oct. 24 email to The Colorado Sun after the op-ed was published, CPW spokesperson Travis Duncan said the commissioners had not broken any laws. 

“Voting Commissioners are not DNR employees, they are unpaid volunteers, so they do not fall under DNR’s HR personnel rules,” he wrote. “As the Commissioners were speaking as private citizens, this subject was not before the commission as an item of business and no open meeting law violation occurred.”

Jeff Roberts, executive director of the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition, said that although the open meetings law says a meeting is open when two or more members of a state public body discuss public business, Colorado courts say there must be a demonstrated link between the content of a meeting and the public body’s policy-making responsibilities.

So because commissioners are not involved in deciding whether hunting of mountain lions and bobcats should be prohibited, he said, there was no link between the commissioners’ opinions in the op-ed and the commissions’ work. 

A paper published by the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University in October, argues that “accepting a government office — including an elected or appointed position — does not divest a speaker of all First Amendment rights.”

But Dan Gates, executive director of Coloradans for Responsible Wildlife Management, believes the plaintiffs are justified in suing the commissioners.

In an email to The Sun, he said Coloradans for Responsible Wildlife Management hopes “all appointed individuals adhere to the requirements of public process and procedures and protocols” because “while having a personal opinion is one thing, how one conveys or represents that opinion or how it was worked on with others, might be another matter.” 

Beaulieu and Murphy told the commission they had no part in the letter writing during opening remarks at the Nov. 14 meeting.

“At no point did I communicate with commissioner Murphy about writing the op-ed or pending commission business, including the East Slope Mountain Lion Plan,” Beaulieu said. 

“There was no collusion. We simply signed off on a letter. We did not talk about it at all. Not one single word was written by either one of us,” Murphy added.  

Pribyl and advocates drafted the letter

Ellen Stein, opinion editor at The Durango Herald, said the letter came via email from Julie Marshall, public relations director for Animal Wellness Action, the group behind Proposition 127. 

Marshall told The Sun Pribyl, the former commissioner, “and experts from the campaign” wrote the letter after which Beaulieu and Murphy were each sent drafts.  

“Jess got a copy to see if she agreed in substance and wanted to add her name,” Marshall said. “Jack also got a copy separately and was offered the same thing to sign on. No seated commissioners met together ever. No seated commissioners were ever on the same email ever. They acted entirely alone in their own capacity as citizens. There is nothing nefarious or illegal here.”

“Safari Club is engaging in lawfare to attack on baseless grounds and chill speech because of the substance of the issue alone,” she added. “That is anti-democratic.”

Commissioner Marie Haskett, who represents sportspersons and outfitters, submitted her own letter to the editor in the Rio Blanco Herald Times on Oct. 10 urging a no vote on Prop. 127. 

Colorado Sun reporter Jason Blevins contributed to this report.

KRDO NewsChannel 13 is committed to providing a forum for civil and constructive conversation.

Please keep your comments respectful and relevant. You can review our Community Guidelines by clicking here

If you would like to share a story idea, please submit it here.

* Sidney Crosby (Cole Harbour, NS) and Nathan MacKinnon (Halifax, NS) grew up just minutes apart in the Halifax Regional Municipality. Tomorrow’s game will mark the 18th head-to-head matchup between Crosby and MacKinnon, where Crosby’s Penguins have gone 9-7-1 in the first 17 games.

* Sidney Crosby enters the game one multi-point performance back of tying Steve Yzerman (477) for seventh place on the NHL’s all-time multi-point games list.

* Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang have combined on 305 goals in their careers. They are one goal shy of tying Boston’s Phil Esposito and Bobby Orr for the second-most goals combined on by a forward-defenseman duo in NHL history.

* Evgeni Malkin enters this contest just one even-strength goal shy of surpassing Jaromir Jagr for sole possession of third place on the Penguins all-time even-strength goals list. Sidney Crosby is just one even-strength goal shy of tying Teemu Selanne for the 12th most even-strength goals in NHL history.

* Bryan Rust has eight points (5G-3A) in his last seven games played against the Avalanche. He has an active five-game point streak (4G-2A) versus them.

* In nine career games played against Colorado, Michael Bunting has recorded 11 points (6G-5A). It’s his second-most points notched against any one team (Detroit, 15).

Michael Bunting has 11 points (6G-5A) over his last 16 games after recording just one point (1A) in his first 12 games. Since his first goal of the season on November 5 against the New York Islanders, he is tied for the team lead in goals with six, and he has 11 points (6G-5A) in those past 16 games, tying for second on Pittsburgh in that span.

Bunting’s game-winning goal Saturday night against Toronto doubled as his fourth power-play goal of the season. No Penguin has more power-play goals this season than Bunting.

* Blake Lizotte tallied an empty-net goal Saturday night against Toronto for his second goal in as many games. With a point on Saturday, Lizotte extended his point streak to a career-long four games (3G-3A). No Penguin has more points than Lizotte’s six in the team’s last four games. The forward also ranks third on Pittsburgh in points per game this season (min. 10 GP). Pittsburgh has points in 10 of 13 games when Lizotte is in the lineup (8-3-2).

* Goaltender Tristan Jarry stopped 25 of 27 shots on Saturday against Toronto en route to his fourth-straight win, his longest such streak since November 4-14, 2023. Jarry is seeking his first five-game win streak since December 1-22, 2022 when he won seven-consecutive starts.

Since his winning streak began on November 27 against Vancouver, Jarry leads all goaltenders in wins.

During this span, Jarry ranks eighth among all goaltenders with a .914 save percentage (min. four games played).

* The Penguins’ power play has been much more efficient this season, especially as of late. In their last nine games, the team has scored nine power-play goals, including two games where they scored multiple power-play goals. The Penguins rank sixth in the NHL in power-play goals over this nine-game span.

The Penguins rank 13th in the NHL in total power-play percentage at 22.6%. Through 28 games this season, the team has 19 power-play goals. They achieved this number in 11 fewer games than last year, as it took the team 39 games to record the same number of power-play goals.