Professional Documents
Culture Documents
1816-CV24367
Jeffrey J. Carey )
)
Plaintiff )
)
v. ) Case No:
)
Representative Rebecca Roeber ) Division:
SERVE AT: )
603 NE Clubhouse Dr )
Lee’s Summit, MO 64086 )
)
And )
)
Rick Roeber )
SERVE AT: )
603 NE Clubhouse Dr )
Lee’s Summit, MO 64086 )
)
Defendants )
COMES NOW the Plaintiff, Jeffrey J. Carey, pro se and by and through his attorney of record,
William Cownie and for his Petition for Declaratory Judgment and Injunctive Relief for
Violation of the Constitutional Rights of the Plaintiff states and alleges as follows:
PARTIES
1. Plaintiff Jeffrey J. Carey is an individual resident of the City of Lee’s Summit, County of
Jackson, State of Missouri and is a constituent of the 34th District of the Missouri House
of Representatives.
resident of the City of Lee’s Summit, County of Jackson, State of Missouri and is the
Electronically Filed - Jackson - Independence - September 18, 2018 - 03:57 PM
elected representative of the 34th District of the Missouri House of Representatives and a
3. Defendant Rick Roeber is an individual resident of the City of Lee’s Summit, County of
https://www.facebook.com/RebeccaRoeberForDistrict34MoHouseOfRepresentatives/
Roeber.
FACTUAL ALLEGATIONS
5. Plaintiff is a constituent of Representative Roeber and has closely followed her legislative
activities and documented her position on issues that are of importance to the voters in
her district.
6. On or about June 26, 2015 Representative Roeber sat down for an interview with
Comcast Newsmakers regarding charter school legislation (HB 42) in Missouri wherein
she stated:
a. “The Senate did expand [the provisions of HB 42 to include] charter schools, they
b. [After changes in conference committee] “now it’s just in counties where there
https://youtu.be/w4iF75ikgfU
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7. Per her financial disclosure form filed with the Missouri Ethics Commission, on or about
November 30, 2016 Representative Roeber accepted a free trip to Washington, D.C. to an
It is noted and of interest that these receipts were not reported as lobbyist gifts and
therefore were only discoverable to the public in the event someone requested
9. On January 18, 2017 Rebecca Roeber was the sole sponsor of HB 634. As introduced by
Representative Roeber on that date, the bill would have expanded charter schools to
every school district in the state including Lee’s Summit RVII. See HB 634 attached
hereto as Exhibit B.
10. On January 27, 2017 Representative Roeber was one of 21 elected officials nationwide to
Secretary of Education in which they stated that “On this week, National School Choice
Week, we the undersigned endorse this champion of choice and the education reforms
needed to improve the future of every child in America. And we strongly advocate for her
confirmation as our next U.S. Secretary of Education.” See ExcelInEd open letter in
11. DeVos has been instrumental in the expansion of for-profit charter schools in Michigan
and it was reported that “A 2016 review commissioned by the National Education Policy
Center found that Michigan’s per-pupil spending, compared with that of neighboring
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Midwestern states, had fallen ‘from the middle of the pack to near the bottom.’” and that
“Michigan’s K-12 system is among the weakest in the country and getting worse. In little
more than a decade, Michigan has gone from being a fairly average state in elementary
reading and math achievement to the bottom 10 states. It’s a devastating fall.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/05/magazine/michigan-gambled-on-charter-schools-
its-children-lost.html
12. On or about August 29, 2017 Representative Roeber granted another interview to
Comcast Newsmakers discussing the bill she introduced in which she vowed that
https://comcastnewsmakers.com/Videos/2017/08/29/school-choice-charter-schools
13. Per her financial disclosure form filed with the Missouri Ethics Commission, on or about
September 24, 2017 Representative Roeber accepted a free trip to Bonita Beach, Florida
14. EdChoice is a charter school advocacy organization and regularly lobbies government
15. On November 11, 2017, in response to a tweet noting that Governor Eric Greitens had
turned over more than half of the state school board, Representative Roeber retweeted a
message about that occurrence and stated “Change on the way.” See Exhibit D attached
hereto.
16. Though former Governor Greitens’ campaign finances remain very murky, it has been
publicly reported that over $370,000 came from school choice advocacy organizations
government/article152989334.html
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17. Plaintiff is concerned about the agenda collectively pursued by Representative Roeber,
Secretary DeVos, and former Governor Eric Greitens to expand for-profit charter schools
feature called “Town Hall” and this allowed him to comment on posts made through that
19. Plaintiff also started a Facebook page to collect information regarding Representative
https://www.facebook.com/roeberiswrong
20. The website officially linked to Facebook Town Hall by Representative Roeber is the
following:
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https://www.facebook.com/townhall
21. Facebook describes Town Hall as “a place on Facebook for civic discovery and
engagement where you can: See the names and contact information of local, state and
directly through Facebook. Connect with your government officials by following them.”
https://www.facebook.com/help/278545442575921?helpref=related
22. Defendants intentionally created, or caused to be created, the Rebecca Roeber For
District 34 Missouri House Facebook page and linked it to the designated public forum
23. Plaintiff followed Representative Roeber’s Town Hall page in order to engage in civic
discovery and engagement, to engage with her and her representatives regarding her
agenda, and to educate those following and commenting on her posts about
Representative Roeber’s charter school agenda and the potential for harm to RVII.
24. Representative Roeber, by and through her page administrator Rick Roeber, has engaged
in a practice of systematically hiding the comments made by the Plaintiff so that only the
Plaintiff and his friends on Facebook can see the comments he makes in the Town Hall
public forum. See screenshots from another constituent of the posts to the page as a
friend and as someone that is not a friend on Facebook attached hereto as Exhibit E.
25. Plaintiff has made request that the Defendants stop hiding his comments as evidenced by
page:
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27. The Plaintiff commented “Your opponent, Jim Ripley was a teacher too. The key
difference is that he supports the RVII public schools. You started promoting a charter
school agenda for Lee’s Summit. The Superintendent told you it was bad for Lee’s
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Summit. Your response was to take free trips to DC and the beach from charter schools
advocates and then to propose state-wide charter schools. Thanks but I’ll give my support
28. The comment outlined at Paragraph 27 was hidden from view from other users of the
Town Hall forum. When another user noted a number of hidden comments (all made by
the Plaintiff) Rick Rober told them “You don't want to [see them] [Facebook user name
redacted] ... some untruths about Rebecca wanting charter schools for Lee's Summit.
Districts that excel would NEVER be a consideration and most people that are honest
know this….”
29. As demonstrated herein, Plaintiff’s comment was true and Rick Roeber’s comment was
not.
30. Representative Roeber’s Town Hall page posts a wide variety of political issues and is
an elected official with an opportunity for comment and debate by Facebook users. Even
31. Plaintiff and Defendants are all residents of the County of Jackson, State of Missouri.
32. On information and belief, the decision to censor Plaintiff’s speech expressed through the
Facebook Town Hall forum was made in the City of Lee’s Summit, County of Jackson,
33. On information and belief, the authority to manage her Town Hall Facebook page was
delegated to Rick Roeber by Representative Roeber and they are acting in concert in
Plaintiff’s right to free speech and Jurisdiction is vested in this Court pursuant to the
35. Plaintiff incorporates by reference the allegations made above as if more fully set forth
herein.
Missouri Constitution which states in relevant part “[t]hat no law shall be passed
impairing the freedom of speech, no matter by what means communicated: that every
person shall be free to say, write or publish, or otherwise communicate whatever he will
on any subject,…”
Constitution’s First Amendment which states in relevant part that “Congress shall make
38. As the United States “Supreme Court recognized just a few [months] ago, social media
platforms like Facebook and Twitter provide ‘perhaps the most powerful mechanisms
available to a private citizen to make his or her voice heard.’ Packingham v. North
Carolina, slip op. at 8, 582 U.S. ____ (2017). These platforms have been
‘revolution[ary],’ not least because they have transformed civic engagement by allowing
‘Governors in all 50 States and almost every Member of Congress have set up [Twitter]
accounts for this purpose,’ id. at 5, allowing citizens to ‘petition their elected
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representatives and otherwise engage with them in a direct manner,’ id. at 8. Twitter
enables ordinary citizens to speak directly to public officials and to listen to and debate
others about public issues, in much the same way they could if they were gathered on a
sidewalk or in a public park, or at a city council meeting or town hall.” Knight First
Court for the Southern District of New York. {“Knight First Amendment Lawsuit”) See
39. The Knight First Amendment Lawsuit sought declaratory judgment and injunctive relief
40. Though it is asserted that all social media spaces created by elected officials which
provide an opportunity for comment, interaction, and dialogue are designated public
forums, Facebook has explicitly designated websites connected to its Town Hall feature
as “a place on Facebook for civic discovery and engagement” and Representative Roeber
41. Representative Roeber’s Facebook page at issue in this litigation is a designated public
forum.
42. As the Court noted in its ruling granting declaratory judgment in the Knight First
Amendment Lawsuit, “the ‘interactive space’ where [social media users] may directly
engage with the content of the [elected official’s] tweets -- are properly analyzed under
the ‘public forum’ doctrines set forth by the Supreme Court, that such space is a
designated public forum, and that the blocking of the plaintiffs based on their political
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speech constitutes viewpoint discrimination that violates the First Amendment. “ See
43. Despite request, the Defendants have not remedied past violations of Plaintiff’s freedom
of speech under the Missouri and United States Constitutions and have refused to
44. The dispute regarding whether Defendants have violated Plaintiff’s rights is judiciable by
45. The controversy is ripe for judicial determination and important public policy
46. A reversal of these particular Defendants’ position, even if offered, would not provide an
adequate remedy as nothing would prevent future violations by these Defendants absent a
judicial declaration.
WHEREFORE, for the foregoing reasons, Plaintiffs seeks declaration against all Defendants that
the Facebook page at issue in this litigation is a public forum, that the hiding of comments by
Facebook users that express dissenting views constitutes viewpoint discrimination under the
Missouri and United States constitutions, for the costs of this action, and for such other and
further relief as the Court deems just and proper on the premises.
48. Plaintiff incorporates by reference the allegations made above as if more fully set forth
herein.
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49. Plaintiff has suffered and is likely to continue to suffer harm that cannot be remedied or
50. Defendants have demonstrated a willingness to violate the Plaintiff’s civil rights and
injunctive relief is appropriate to remedy past harms and enjoin future harms.
51. In the absence of relief, Plaintiff will suffer immediate and irreparable injury, loss, or
damage as follows:
a. Existing posts for which Plaintiff’s Constitutional rights have already been
c. Representative Roeber will be able to continue to deny how harmful her agenda
may be for the Lee’s Summit RVII school district in a designated public forum
e. The public will be deprived of a discourse about issues that relate to the education
of our children.
52. As the relief requested is a remedy for the violation of constitutional rights of the
Plaintiff, a bond would be inappropriate or, in the alternative, should be set at a nominal
amount.
53. Plaintiff has provided 24 hour notice at the time of service of this Petition to the
Defendants that a hearing will be held on Plaintiff’s request for a temporary restraining
consolidate the hearing on the request for preliminary injunction with the trial on the
WHEREFORE, for the foregoing reasons, the Plaintiff asks for the following relief in the form
a) That Defendants be enjoined from censoring Plaintiff’s social media posts in the future;
c) For such other and further relief as the Court deems just and proper.
WHEREFORE, for the foregoing reasons, the Plaintiff asks for the following relief in the form
a) That all Defendants be enjoined from censoring Plaintiff’s social media posts in the
future;
c) That the posts on which Plaintiff’s message was censored, in order to allow public
discussion of the content of the posts that was denied in the past, should be shared by
the page to the public on Facebook with the following introductory statement: “Per
Order of the Jackson County Circuit Court due to Representative Roeber’s violation
of Jeffrey Carey’s Constitutional rights, this post is being re-published with Mr.
d) For such other and further relief as the Court deems just and proper.
Respectfully submitted,
Electronically Filed - Jackson - Independence - September 18, 2018 - 03:57 PM
By: /s/ William S. Cownie
William S. Cownie Mo. Bar No. 32368
EARNSHAW & COWNIE LAW FIRM, P.C.
1328 NE Windsor Dr
Lee’s Summit MO 64086
816-525-9200
816-246-9049 (F)
bill@cownielawoffices.com
ATTORNEY FOR PLAINTIFF
VERIFICATION
STATE OF MISSOURI )
) ss.
COUNTY OF JACKSON )
I, Jeffrey J. Carey, am competent to testify regarding the matters set forth herein, am of
lawful age, and being first duly sworn, state and depose upon oath that I am of sound mind, capable
of making this affidavit, and that I am personally acquainted with the facts herein stated:
3. The facts set forth herein are true, correct, and accurate to the best of my knowledge and
belief.