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Orgo-Life the new way to the future Advertising by AdpathwayDENVER (KDVR) — Shortly after a lawsuit was filed against the city of Aurora by a prominent Black activist accusing the city of impacting citizens' First Amendment rights through new council procedures, Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman took to social media, calling the activists' continued participation with the council "continued harassment."
MiDian Shofner, the CEO of The Epitome of Black Excellence and Partnership, filed the lawsuit against the city after council members voted 7-3 in favor of moving the meetings to a virtual format until a lawsuit over the death of Kilyn Lewis is resolved. At the same time, council members voted to remove the public comment period and only have comment periods for agenda items that require it.
Shofner's organization is also supporting the Lewis family's lawsuit filed against the city and an Aurora police officer, which alleges that Lewis suffered a wrongful death, among other allegations.
Lewis, 37, was shot to death by Aurora Police Officer Michael Dieck on May 23, 2024. Last fall, the district attorney's office announced it would not be charging Dieck in Lewis' death. A grand jury was also presented with the case and declined to file charges against Dieck.
Mayor continues public statements against activists
Coffman has spoken out at least twice on social media about the activists' actions and repeated statements before the council calling for justice for Kilyn Lewis. On Tuesday, he accused Shofner of "leading an effort to get the city to write a settlement check" for the Lewis family. It's not the first time, and Shofner has said the accusation is baseless.
Coffman wrote on Facebook earlier this month that the meeting's format change was to prevent disruptions by activists seeking justice for Kilyn Lewis, an unarmed Black man who was shot and killed by Aurora police in May 2024.
"Since the lawsuit against the city has no merit, it is my belief that Shofner is resorting to extralegal tactics to get the city to write a settlement check in exchange for her to go away and stop coordinating the harassment and the disruptions of our council meetings," Coffman wrote.
However, activists found a way around the comment ban on Monday. During the Monday night council meeting, comments were received for agenda items throughout the almost five and a half hour meeting. Speakers spoke directly to the agenda items, but at the end of each statement, the speakers all noted the same thing: The first letter of each sentence they said spelled out the name Kilyn Lewis.
"I just spelled out Kilyn Lewis because we need different outcomes in our city," the commenters repeated throughout the meeting, sometimes getting told they were out of order and needed to comment on the agenda item at hand.
Councilmember Francoise Bergan said at the end of Monday's meeting that the rule change was not because of "anyone's speech."
"We will listen to anyone, including non-residents of Aurora, but they need to follow the rules," Bergan said. "And this group has refused to do so. And that's why we have changed the rules: Their intentional disruptions is the reason, not their speech."
At the time of Lewis's shooting death, Aurora police were reportedly trying to arrest the man on a warrant for first-degree attempted murder.
Coffman said that Shofner and six others "lined up to call in to speak on every agenda item for the sole purpose of slowing the process down so that the council meeting, that normally ends by 8:30 pm, lasted until sometime after 11:00 pm."
"She also just filed a separate lawsuit against the city for allegedly violating her First Amendment Right to free speech, as another avenue to shake down the city's taxpayers, because the city council chose to conduct virtual meeting instead of in-person ones and suspended the public comment period that is scheduled before the in-person council meetings," Coffman said on Facebook.
He called on councilmembers to "continue to stand with me, despite the harassment and disruptions, and stand against the abuses of Midian Shofner by not making or agreeing to any settlement offers.
Shofner calls Coffman's posts 'defamatory,' 'desperate'
Shofner responded to Coffman's post on Tuesday with her own Facebook post.
"You conveniently ignore that on June 23rd, the individuals who spoke, myself included, remained on topic, addressed agenda items, and made substantive contributions," Shofner said. "If your real grievance is that the meeting ran until 11:00 p.m., may I recommend tighter parliamentary skills, more effective time management, or perhaps a renewed commitment to civic duty. After all, isn’t public service supposed to be…in service to the public?"
She also said his public posts are "overflowing with unfounded claims, defamatory assertions, and desperate rhetoric," but said it would bolster her First Amendment lawsuit.
She went on to address the community, saying that the Aurora officials are "resorting to Facebook rants and reputational smear campaigns because they have been exposed."
"Exposed for dismissing the concerns of grieving mothers, for ignoring evidence, and for fearing transparency more than they fear misconduct," Shofner wrote.
She called for three members of the council who are up for re-election in November to not be re-elected.
Coffman said that the city will fight both lawsuits in court.