On November 20, Safari Club International (SCI) and Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation (SAF) sued Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) Commissioners Jessica Beaulieu and Jack Murphy for violating Colorado’s Open Meetings Law in preparing and publishing an op-ed supporting Proposition 127, a ballot initiative that would have banned the hunting of mountain lions, bobcats, and lynx.

The op-ed represents that Commissioners Beaulieu and Murphy are current Commissioners for the CPW Commission, which is “the body that sets wildlife policy” and is a “science-backed agency.” The op-ed expresses strong views against mountain lion and bobcat hunting and contains a number of misstatements that are contradicted by CPW data and regulations.

Colorado’s Open Meetings Law, often referred to as Colorado’s Sunshine Law, was enacted to afford the public access to meetings at which public bodies discuss public business. The law requires that any “meeting” of two or more members of a state public body, like the Commission, must offer public notice and an opportunity for public participation. A “meeting” is broadly defined to include email and telephone conversations about public business. SCI and SAF’s complaint alleges that Commissioners Beaulieu and Murphy violated this law when they discussed the content of the op-ed, a matter of regular Commission business, especially their views against regulated and sustainable mountain lion and bobcat hunting.

“SCI is disappointed that two CPW Commissioners would express such unsupported opposition to regulated mountain lion hunting. But we’re even more disappointed that they would do so in violation of Colorado’s Sunshine Law,” said Ben Cassidy, Executive Vice President for International Government and Public Affairs. “We are grateful that Colorado voters rejected Proposition 127, despite these erroneous statements from the Commissioners.”