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Melvin Carterwas on City Council 2008 to 2013 Complicit with Illegal Dismissal USSC 10-1032 TITLED Magner vs. Gallagher THEREFORE Carter Complicit with Dirty Deals; now including stpautrash.com Executive Summary
In early February 2012, Assistant Attorney General Thomas E. Perez made a secret deal
behind closed doors with St. Paul, Minnesota, Mayor Christopher Coleman and St. Paul’s
outside counsel, David Lillehaug. Perez agreed to commit the Department of Justice to declining
intervention in a False Claims Act qui tam complaint filed by whistleblower Fredrick Newell
against the City of St. Paul, as well as a second qui tam complaint pending against the City, in
exchange for the City’s commitment to withdraw its appeal in Magner v. Gallagher from the
Supreme Court, an appeal involving the validity of disparate impact claims under the Fair
Housing Act. Perez sought, facilitated, and consummated this deal because he feared that the
Court would find disparate impact unsupported by the text of the Fair Housing Act. Calling
disparate impact theory the “lynchpin” of civil rights enforcement, Perez simply could not allow
the Court to rule. Perez sought leverage to stop the City from pressing its appeal. His search led
him to David Lillehaug and then to Newell’s lawsuit against the City.
Fredrick Newell, a minister and small-business owner in St. Paul, had spent almost a
decade working to improve economic opportunities for low-income residents in his community.
In 2009, Newell filed a whistleblower lawsuit alleging that the City of St. Paul had received tens
of millions of dollars of community development funds, including stimulus funding, by
improperly certifying its compliance with federal law. By November 2011, Newell had spent
over two years discussing his case with career attorneys in the Department of Housing and Urban
Development, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota, and the Civil Fraud Section within the
Justice Department’s Civil Division. These three entities, which had each invested a substantial
amount of time and resources into Newell’s case, regarded this as a strong case potentially worth
as much as $200 million for taxpayers and recommended that the federal government join the
suit. These career attorneys even went so far as to prepare a formal memorandum
recommending intervention, calling St. Paul’s actions a “particularly egregious example of false
certifications.”
All this work was for naught. In late November 2011, Lillehaug made Perez aware of
Newell’s pending case against the City and the possibility that the Justice Department may
intervene. A trade was proposed: non-intervention in Newell’s case for the withdrawal of
Magner. Perez contacted HUD General Counsel Helen Kanovsky and asked her to reconsider
HUD’s support for intervention in Newell’s case. Perez also spoke to then-Civil Division
Assistant Attorney General Tony West and B. Todd Jones, the U.S. Attorney for the District of
Minnesota, alerting them to his new interest in Newell’s case. The withdrawal of HUD’s support
for Newell’s case led to an erosion of support in the Civil Division, a process that was actively
managed by Perez.
In January 2012, Perez began leading negotiations with Lillehaug, offering him a
“roadmap” to a global settlement. Once negotiations appeared to break down, Perez boarded a
plane and flew to Minnesota to meet face-to-face with Mayor Coleman. At that early February
meeting, Perez pleaded for the fate of disparate impact and reiterated the Justice Department’s
willingness to strike a deal. His lobbying paid off when Lillehaug accepted the deal on Mayor
In early February 2012, Assistant Attorney General Thomas E. Perez made a secret deal
behind closed doors with St. Paul, Minnesota, Mayor Christopher Coleman and St. Paul’s
outside counsel, David Lillehaug. Perez agreed to commit the Department of Justice to declining
intervention in a False Claims Act qui tam complaint filed by whistleblower Fredrick Newell
against the City of St. Paul, as well as a second qui tam complaint pending against the City, in
exchange for the City’s commitment to withdraw its appeal in Magner v. Gallagher from the
Supreme Court, an appeal involving the validity of disparate impact claims under the Fair
Housing Act. Perez sought, facilitated, and consummated this deal because he feared that the
Court would find disparate impact unsupported by the text of the Fair Housing Act. Calling
disparate impact theory the “lynchpin” of civil rights enforcement, Perez simply could not allow
the Court to rule. Perez sought leverage to stop the City from pressing its appeal. His search led
him to David Lillehaug and then to Newell’s lawsuit against the City.
Fredrick Newell, a minister and small-business owner in St. Paul, had spent almost a
decade working to improve economic opportunities for low-income residents in his community.
In 2009, Newell filed a whistleblower lawsuit alleging that the City of St. Paul had received tens
of millions of dollars of community development funds, including stimulus funding, by
improperly certifying its compliance with federal law. By November 2011, Newell had spent
over two years discussing his case with career attorneys in the Department of Housing and Urban
Development, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota, and the Civil Fraud Section within the
Justice Department’s Civil Division. These three entities, which had each invested a substantial
amount of time and resources into Newell’s case, regarded this as a strong case potentially worth
as much as $200 million for taxpayers and recommended that the federal government join the
suit. These career attorneys even went so far as to prepare a formal memorandum
recommending intervention, calling St. Paul’s actions a “particularly egregious example of false
certifications.”
All this work was for naught. In late November 2011, Lillehaug made Perez aware of
Newell’s pending case against the City and the possibility that the Justice Department may
intervene. A trade was proposed: non-intervention in Newell’s case for the withdrawal of
Magner. Perez contacted HUD General Counsel Helen Kanovsky and asked her to reconsider
HUD’s support for intervention in Newell’s case. Perez also spoke to then-Civil Division
Assistant Attorney General Tony West and B. Todd Jones, the U.S. Attorney for the District of
Minnesota, alerting them to his new interest in Newell’s case. The withdrawal of HUD’s support
for Newell’s case led to an erosion of support in the Civil Division, a process that was actively
managed by Perez.
In January 2012, Perez began leading negotiations with Lillehaug, offering him a
“roadmap” to a global settlement. Once negotiations appeared to break down, Perez boarded a
plane and flew to Minnesota to meet face-to-face with Mayor Coleman. At that early February
meeting, Perez pleaded for the fate of disparate impact and reiterated the Justice Department’s
willingness to strike a deal. His lobbying paid off when Lillehaug accepted the deal on Mayor
Alisa Lien Webmaster for stpaultrash.com Excellant for Legal Research http://saintpaultrash.com/d...
Discussion on TwinCities.com 29 comments
St. Paul City Council closes ranks around Busuri, a temporary appointee and Ward 6 candidate
Live and Let Live altho When the Quoran exceeds the Authority of State and Federal Constitutions, When Lawyer Tolbert in a Pattern violates MN Const. Art. III Separation of Powers, Council calling the Kettle Black, and in this Sceniero White Council Supremist, who have Breeched the Public Trust, are Going to Pot.
