City manager allegedly told staff to publicly lie about Kansas City projects: Lawsuit

Kansas City’s former director of communications alleges in a recently filed civil lawsuit that he was demoted for refusing to lie to The Star and other local news organizations about city projects and services at the behest of City Manager Brian Platt.

Chris Hernandez, the former director, says in a lawsuit filed in Jackson County Circuit Court that he was “not willing to put his credibility on the line” for Platt, alleging the city manager instructed staff to lie as part of a “media strategy.” As a result, the lawsuit alleges Hernandez was ultimately reassigned to another city department.

Hernandez is suing the city for damages under a Missouri law that protects whistle blowers, saying he lost his job for telling Platt that he “should not be dishonest to the news media and the public.”

In the lawsuit, Hernandez alleges Platt called a meeting with communications employees at his downtown office in January and discussed strategies for handling Kansas City news media. During that meeting, Platt allegedly raised the prospect of lying as a “legitimate media strategy.”

In the spring, the city communications team prepared a press release regarding how many miles of lanes would be resurfaced based on funds available in the upcoming fiscal year.

A drafted press release stated “nearly 300” miles, according to the lawsuit; Platt had the communications team remove the word “nearly.”

Days before the event, the lawsuit alleges Platt knowingly inflated the benefits of the project on social media by saying the city would be repaving “400 plus” lane miles.

“Our summer of street resurfacing is well under way. 400+ miles planned for this spring and summer! But what’s under the old asphalt is sometimes something more special: 100+ year old brick pavers and original street car track here on Brooklyn Ave!” Platt wrote in a May 6 Twitter post.

Hernandez alleges that he was concerned Platt was lying about this number, as no other staff were aware of an increase in the miles to be paved.

“It was clear to Plaintiff that Mr. Platt just wanted an even larger number and did not care if the number was true or not,” the suit reads.

In a statement to The Star Thursday, a city spokeswoman stood by the street resurfacing figure shared by Platt.

“As an institution committed to transparency, the City stands by any statements and welcomes inspection of any facts related to our transformative work to have already resurfaced 387 lane miles of roadway this fiscal year — substantially exceeding our resurfacing efforts in each of the past five years,” city spokeswoman Sherae Honeycutt said in an emailed statement.

“As the City Manager previously shared, this number has the City on track to meet and exceed 400 lane miles in this fiscal year, which ends April 30, 2023.”

In referencing lane miles to be completed by April 2023, Honeycutt’s statement differed from Platt’s tweet specifying the spring and summer of 2022. It was unclear if Honeycutt was referring to a different statement by Platt.

Another point raised in the lawsuit concerns a story published in The Star regarding the city’s work on potholes. The lawsuit claims Platt was angry about the story, and instructed staff to call the newspaper and say that “the numbers were wrong” when they were actually correct.

During a lunch-hour meeting at a Kansas City coffee shop, Hernandez says in his lawsuit that he was asked by Platt why another member of the communications team had resigned and other staff members were leaving. Hernandez says he told Platt many were upset with the way they were being treated.

The following month, the lawsuit says Hernandez was told by Platt that he did not possess the “shared vision” for the communications department and was reassigned.

Reached by phone on Wednesday night, Hernandez read a prepared statement: “This whistle blower lawsuit clearly states our concerns about the honesty and transparency that Kansas City taxpayers and residents deserve from City Hall.”

Chris Hernandez v. City of Kansas City, Missouri by The Kansas City Star on Scribd