Hagadone Helps City Pay Cost Of New Parade Law Threat Of Suit Ends In Donation Toward Legal Aid For Coeur D’Alene

A constitutional law expert is being hired to overhaul the city’s parade permit law with the help of a $20,000 donation from tourism and newspaper magnate Duane Hagadone.

Hagadone had earlier threatened to sue the city over the Aryan parades.

No particular organization is targeted by the potential new parade law, city officials insist. But the move comes after last summer’s Aryan Nations parade in downtown Coeur d’Alene. The Hayden Lake group also has applied to make another march down Sherman Avenue this summer.

Aryan Nations officials could not be reached for comment on the city’s latest move. The City Council is expected to finalize the contract with the law expert on Tuesday.

Hagadone sent a letter to the city last fall, saying he would sue the city if it again issued a parade permit to the Aryans. He then met with Mayor Steve Judy. Judy suggested Hagadone help the city find a constitutional expert rather than filing a suit, Judy said late Friday.

Hagadone agreed and later offered to pay half the cost. That buys Hagadone no influence in the matter, city officials insist.

They hope his donation is the first of many to off-set the cost of the $40,000 contract with David J. Burman, an attorney with the Seattle firm of Perkins-Coie.

“He’s helping defray the cost,” Judy said, “with absolutely no connection to the outcome. The city is Mr. Burnam’s only client.”

Burnam has to have his research to the city by late February.

“We want (the attorney) to exhaust all legal and constitutional possibilities relative to an ordinance that would give the city more tools and more control in dealing with controversial parades,” Judy said. A new ordinance “has to have implications for anyone who has parades in Coeur d’Alene.”

If Burnam can’t deliver a new set of tools, it could mean the city pays less for the legal advice, according to the Burnam’s contract. “Should you, prior to February 25, 1999, determine that the type of ordinance you presently envision is not reasonably likely to withstand judicial review you will immediately advise the City Administrator and your costs will be appropriately adjusted downward,” the contract reads.

Last summer’s Aryan Nations parade cost taxpayers more than $100,000, much of it for police to protect the neo-Nazis. There are more than $10 million in legal claims pending against the city from parade protesters who claim they were illegally arrested.

The July spectacle attracted just 100 neo-Nazis and Klu Klux Klansmen to parade with Aryan leader Richard Butler. But media from around the world flocked to Coeur d’Alene for the event.