An internal Denver International Airport memo obtained by CBS Colorado appears to corroborate key details of a closed-door meeting that city officials have been publicly disputing.
The memo, written days after a January 6 meeting among city and airport officials, documents a conversation at the center of a federal lawsuit filed by a former airport attorney. That lawsuit, in part, accuses City Attorney Miko Brown of pushing airport officials to investigate a charter airline's safety record -- not because of genuine safety concerns, but to create legal cover for a city council vote that put $90 million in federal grant money at risk.
The Denver Mayor's Office and the City Attorney's Office have both called the allegation that Brown pushed for a safety investigation of the airline false.
The episode began with a routine-seeming request. Key Lime Air, a charter air service, sought to lease 1,200 square feet of office and storage space at the airport last year — the kind of agreement Denver International Airport regularly enters into with airlines.
But the Denver City Council voted overwhelmingly against the lease last December, after learning Key Lime Air had contracted with federal immigration authorities to transport detainees.
That vote created a legal problem. Federal Aviation Administration rules bar cities from treating airlines unequally, and the council's action put $90 million in federal grant funding in jeopardy, according to one...
An internal Denver International Airport memo obtained by CBS Colorado appears to corroborate key details of a closed-door meeting that city officials have been publicly disputing.