[troutman]

Glendale outlines legal case for killing NHL Coyotes arena deal

http://www.tsn.ca/glendale-outlines-...-deal-1.312572

While he was city attorney, Tindall was the primary city contact and negotiator for hockey and first met current Coyotes part-owner Anthony LeBlanc sometime in early 2010, if not before, the court documents say.

"It was Tindall's ardent support for the (arena) agreement in the face of opposition... which is believed to have influenced and helped to secure the city council's approval of the agreement in July 2013," the documents say. "Within weeks of helping to secure the agreement's approval, in August 2013 Tindall went to work for (the Coyotes) as their general counsel."

The city alleges Frisoni "was also significantly involved in securing the agreement's approval, including providing information to city council members in support of the agreement just days before the council voted on the agreement."

The court documents also include emails as far back as 2010 that purport to show a relationship between Tindall and his future employers at the Coyotes, while Tindall was still working for the city and when LeBlanc was trying to buy the struggling NHL team.

In an Apr. 13, 2010, email to Tindall that was copied to LeBlanc, Coyotes part-owner Daryl Jones wrote, "Good luck closing the transaction Craig. Even though the last week or so was a bit testy, we enjoyed working with you and getting to know you."

Other emails were included in the court filings that show LeBlanc, Jones and Tindall joking about NFL football and discussing deficiencies in a bid for the Coyotes by Chicago White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf.

Glendale lawyers also included emails from March 2011 between Tindall and LeBlanc that details Tindall's efforts to convince LeBlanc to invest in an unnamed medical device company.

In one March 2, 2011, email, LeBlanc wrote he was starting a "small hedge fund based out of Canada (but with a global investment portfolio) and are right now exploring small start ups to invest in. We are very close to a deal with a small tech firm based out of Atlanta, but we want to do a minimum of two investments this year. We would be very interested in taking a look."

Tindall replied: "The money in medical devices is ridiculous. At the very least, it's cool technology and I know you love that."

In a July 26, 2013, email to Glendale city manager Brenda Fischer – while Tindall was still being paid severance by the city but weeks before he was hired by the Coyotes – he appears to give advice about trying to finalize the arena management contract.

"There (are a) few issues outstanding that still have the potential for killing this deal; although they are truly not significant enough to do so," Tindall wrote. "Frankly, neither party needs to waste time (and lots of money on lawyers) arguing about marginal issues."

Tindall wrote that there are "acceptable answers for everything," and encouraged Fischer to "move the lawyers along to close this deal."
Glendale's city council voted July 2, 2013, to approve the arena management agreement.

Days earlier, on June 30, according to court documents, Frisoni emailed four city councillors who would later vote in favour of the contract with bullet points of the deal. Frisoni does not appear to have emailed the other three city councillors who were opposed to the arena deal.