Chicken man: Does DA’s employment with Vail Resorts create a conflict of interest?
Vail protestor pleads guilty to trespassing, says plea deal was mishandled
John LaConte/Vail Daily
Vail protestor Tim McMahon, known for his chicken-suited demonstrations targeting Vail Resorts, pleaded guilty to a trespassing violation on Tuesday in a hearing addressing three separate incidents. After his hearing, in the hallway outside the courtroom in Eagle, he raised questions about 5th Judicial District Attorney Heidi McCollum and deputy DA Joe Kirwan prosecuting a case against him on charges brought by Vail Resorts, given their part-time employment with the resort operator.
Vail Resorts pressed charges against McMahon for being on company property after receiving a ban. McMahon was facing charges for three separate incidents: a criminal trespassing case for protesting near the base of Gondola One; a criminal tampering case for placing a sign in front of the snowstake camera at Beaver Creek in 2022; and a 2021 damage to personal property charge for an altercation with a customer which occurred while McMahon was working at Pazzo’s in Avon.
McMahon, while entering his guilty plea on Tuesday, was asked if he wanted to make any statements. He produced a notepad and asked if he could ask questions without it affecting his plea. McMahon’s attorney then said a few inaudible words to him and the two of them decided not to say anything further at the time, but the attorney said that McMahon might want to “re-address the court” at some point.
After the hearing, outside the courtroom, McMahon was asked why he wanted to re-address the court and read the following statement from his notepad:
“DA Johnny Lombardi and I had a plea deal worked out last year, and then when he went into the courtroom to draw it up, DA Joe Kirwan stepped in and said ‘not that deal for Mr. McMahon.’ Then when DA Johnny Lombardi retired, DA Joe Kirwan took over my case. Both of my cases have to do with Vail Resorts and DA Joe Kirwan is a yellow jacket for Vail Resorts. How is that not a conflict of interest? Why would a DA with interest in Vail Resorts be the one to prosecute me?”
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Statement from McCollum
While it may come as a surprise to some Vail locals to learn the district attorney for Clear Creek, Eagle, Lake and Summit counties works for Vail Resorts, McCollum said she has made no effort to hide her involvement with the company, nor has Kirwan. Vail Resorts operates Vail Mountain and Beaver Creek in Eagle County and Breckenridge and Keystone in Summit County.
“Both Mr. Kirwan and I, like thousands of other locals, have worked for Vail Resorts in different capacities and in addition to their full-time jobs for many years,” McCollum said in a statement to the Vail Daily. “This is well known in the community. That is one of the reasons we all love living here.
“I have worked with the Mountain Safety Team on Vail Mountain and prior to that in the ticket offices at Vail Village and in Beaver Creek. Mr. Kirwan has worked with the Mountain Safety Team on Vail Mountain and prior to that he taught ski school in Beaver Creek.
“My office occasionally handles cases involving Vail Resorts and/or Vail Resorts’ employees. The handling of any case by this office has no relation to any work we have done or will continue to do with Vail Resorts. Plea offers extended by this office are made independently based upon the facts and circumstances of each individual case and are not influenced by or dictated by anyone from Vail Resorts.”
Crossing the road
McMahon’s first local demonstration occurred at Beaver Creek Mountain in March of 2020, when he placed a sign in front of the resort’s live snowstake camera criticizing then-CEO Rob Katz for the company’s efforts to remove employees from employee housing during the COVID-19 pandemic. He was fired from his job at Beaver Creek’s Beano’s restaurant and was not allowed to purchase an Epic Pass after that, he said. He continued to place protest signs in front of the snowstake camera, and in 2022 he was issued a letter saying he had received a lifetime ban from all of Vail Resorts’ properties.
McMahon then took his efforts to the streets of Vail Village, where he wore a chicken suit to draw attention to his signs.
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On Dec. 5, McMahon was demonstrating near Vail Resorts property in Vail, holding a sign that said: “Vail Resorts, informing J1s by email that there is ample housing in the valley should be criminal.” The company informed police officers, who made contact with McMahon, telling him “If you’re on the pavers, you should be fine,” in relation to where he can and can’t go in the area bordering town of Vail and Vail Resorts’ property.
But on Saturday, Dec. 10, Vail Resorts called the police on McMahon again, this time saying there was video to back up the claim that McMahon had crossed onto company property. Vail Police watched the video, took a witness statement, and issued McMahon a summons.
McMahon entered into a guilty plea on Tuesday, in exchange for the court dropping the criminal tampering charge for placing the sign in front of Beaver Creek’s snowstake, and issuing one year of unsupervised probation for the damage to personal property charge.
McCollum, in her statement to the Vail Daily, pointed out an additional detail about the case.
“Additionally, I am not sure if you have seen the police report in this case where Mr. McMahon admitted to Vail Police officers that he was trespassing, after he had already been notified that he was not allowed on any Vail Resorts properties,” McCollum said.
McMahon said he didn’t make an effort to argue about where he was standing, saying it’s unclear where Vail Resorts’ property ends and the town’s begins.
“There’s no signs marking where the property line is; you can’t tell Vail Resorts’ property from the public sidewalk,” McMahon said. “But this case is obviously not about property lines, it’s about making an example out of someone who challenges the billion-dollar company that employs our local DAs.”
This story was edited after the wrong deputy DA was identified as working for Vail Resorts — former deputy DA Johnny Lombardi’s named has been replaced with deputy DA Joe Kirwan.
