BOISE, Idaho — This article originally appeared in the Idaho Press.
An attorney for the Idaho State Board of Education in a lawsuit from the Idaho Attorney General is calling for him to drop the challenge to negotiations in the University of Idaho’s bid to purchase the University of Phoenix.
The attorney also sent a letter to Attorney General Raúl Labrador asking him to drop the lawsuit, attaching letters that indicate there was competition for the purchase, which would support the state board’s position that there was not a violation of the Idaho Open Meetings Law.
The attorney general’s office filed a lawsuit in June claiming the State Board of Education violated the Open Meetings Law in its dealings regarding the University of Idaho’s proposal to purchase the large online university.
Attorney Trudy Fouser, on behalf of the state board, is asking the court to dismiss the suit, Kevin Richert of Idaho EdNews first reported.
Fouser cited three reasons in her motion to dismiss; she said the lawsuit addresses the wrong entity, because the State Board of Education was acting in its role as the regents for the University of Idaho; that the complaint was not filed within 30 days of the alleged violation, as required by the Open Meetings Law; and that Labrador hasn’t presented enough evidence to show the board violated the law.
Fouser also says that case law doesn’t support Labrador’s assertion in the lawsuit that the decision made at the public meeting following the executive session in question would be null and void if the executive session was found to violate the law.
In response to a request for comment, Attorney General’s Office spokesperson Beth Cahill wrote in an email, “We have no additional comment beyond what we have previously provided on the lawsuit.”
Fouser filed the motion to dismiss on July 18 and wrote to Labrador on July 21.
Fouser in her letter to Labrador provides letters from the University of Phoenix and Tyton Partners, which had been brokering the deal, that indicate other universities were in competition with the UI.
The May 15 Idaho State Board of Education executive session was held under the exemption to the Open Meetings Law that allows public organizations to “consider preliminary negotiations involving matters of trade or commerce in which the governing body is in competition with governing bodies in other states or nations.”
Labrador argued that the negotiations were not “preliminary” as the state board went on to make a decision a few days later, and he argued there wasn’t sufficient evidence that UI was in competition with another entity.
In a June 27 email, University of Phoenix President Chris Lynne said that there was another offer in competition with UI in May from an entity only referred to as “Party B, a non-state / non-governmental buyer.”
The University of Arkansas also showed interest, but in April, its Board of Regents voted to reject its proposal to purchase the online university.
A July 18 email from Tyton Partners indicated that even after the vote, the University of Arkansas “still wanted to pursue a potential acquisition.”
“We gave Party A (University of Arkansas) the approval needed on UoP’s side to continue to garner the support they needed for a potential transaction,” the letter states. “In concert with that intent, Party A representatives remained active in the process, and accessed the virtual data room that we were maintaining on UoP’s behalf multiple times, including in the second half of May.”
The letter, written by Tyton Partners Managing Director Gregory Finkelstein, also said a third university had expressed interest and was in discussions with the University of Phoenix during the month of May.
Fouser wrote to Labrador that, given the information in the letters, Labrador’s claims are “meritless” and called for him to drop the lawsuit.
“You have previously expressed concern about ‘wasting taxpayer funds and resources by prolonging litigation.’ Our client strongly agrees,” Fouser wrote. “Taxpayers of the State of Idaho should not be paying for this unnecessary litigation.”
This article originally appeared in the Idaho Press, read more on IdahoPress.com.
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