call your lawyer.

1. They were unaware that a lawsuit charging violations of constitutional rights might lead to a judgment that constitutional rights had been violated.

2. They were unaware that city ordinances could be interpreted as making such indemnity illegal. (This is a specious interpretation, by the way.)

3. They knew both of these, but were highly confident that Mr. White would lose and no one would have to pay anything.

4. They knew these things and signed anyway, knowing that they could always fall back on the city-statute-makes-it-illegal argument to wiggle out.

1 and 2 indicate gross incompetence, and 3 and 4 indicate dishonesty. And these are the only four possibilities here – there are no others. (Nor are they mutually exclusive.)

If I were a Lee’s Summit resident, I’d be doing whatever I could to replace the current mayor, city council, and whoever was hired to represent them in court. They are obviously incompetent, criminally dishonest, or both. And interest is accumulating on the judgment – Lee’s Summit will eventually have to pay, and the longer they put it off, the more they’ll have to cough up.

I am not talking about resisting the government. I am talking about not obeying the government. That just means not paying taxes, and when they come after you, you don’t defend yourself, you let them take you to jail.

Charley Hardman’s analogy of the US civil war in the first two paragraphs here is a must-read:
http://saltypig.com/articles/2006/12/this-dead-america.htm

Must be nice to be able to just make shit up to absolve oneself of responsibility. Like any other so-called law, ordinances that are morally wrong are inherently invalid.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_War

The reality of life _now_ is that the government’s power comes from saying “give us your money or we’ll kill you” and having the firepower to back it up. All that ending taxation would do is remove the glove–the iron fist inside would still be there. Actually being free of those people would take a major war.

A similar example would be if drugs became legal. Sure, the gangs will still be armed, but they will be put out of business. The very foundation upon which they are formed and based will be gone, and they will cease to have a purpose, and cease to make profit the way they used to.

“10% of cops are honest, 10% are dishonest, and 80% wish they were honest.”
-Detective Frank Serpico, NYPD, testimony to Knapp Commission

COP.
2. to steal; filch.
3. to buy (narcotics).
4. cop out, a. to avoid one’s responsibility, the fulfillment of a promise, etc.; renege; back out.
b. cop a plea.
5. cop a plea, a. to plead guilty or confess in return for receiving a lighter sentence.
b. to plead guilty to a lesser charge as a means of bargaining one’s way out of standing trial for a more serious charge; plea-bargain.
-Dictionary.com, Random House Unabridged Dictionary 2006