John Edward Hurley, president of the Confederate Memorial Association which owns the facility, said that court orders of D.C. Superior Court Judge John H. Bayly Jr. had made the continued operation of the museum impossible.
Hurley said that he had hoped during his appearance in court Thursday that Judge Bayly would explain why nearly $22,000 he had paid in attorneys fees and costs had been returned to him, since the judge had jailed Hurley in December of last year and only released him on condition that the money was paid.
Not only did the judge not explain return of the money, Hurley said, but he failed to lift over $500,000 in contempt fines that had been imposed earlier. Instead, Hurley added, he ordered that Hurley provide financial records of his association back to 1984, a requirement that had already been met by Hurley, as the court record indicates.
According to Hurley, his bizarre court odyssey began over a decade ago when he cancelled an Oliver North "Freedom Fighter" fund-raising event for the Contras. He said he took this action because such political activity by his tax-exempt organization was prohibited by the Tax Code.
Hurley said that after ten years of litigation he can prove beyond a shadow of doubt that members of Oliver North's operation was using a Mid-Atlantic Credit Union account in Gaithersburg, Maryland, and a review of this account would prove the costs imposed on Hurley were fraudulent. Judge Bayly, however, quashed subpoenas for both Oliver North and the account without explanation.
Hurley said that the board of trustees of his organization, which included those trustees that Judge Bayly had ordered on the board, had voted to sell the museum to cover the fines and costs that were being imposed by the courts.
"As a student of history and a U.S. citizen, my experience with the courts in not being able to get a jury trial has underscored the inevitable conclusion that constitutional government is a thing of the past," Hurley sadly observed.