In a new lawsuit, John Bujak says Canyon County leaked information to the press about the newest criminal allegations against him and didn’t fully respond to his request for public records that support his claim.

Bujak’s replacement, Bryan Taylor, said Tuesday he couldn’t comment in detail because he hadn’t yet seen the complaint, but “we feel as though we have very good valid reasons” why the items were not released.

Also, Taylor said, the complaint Bujak filed Monday is “fairly intertwined with the criminal case” against Bujak for felony misuse of $236,000 in public funds, and that case is under a gag order at Bujak’s request.

This is the latest in a flurry of legal filings and hard feelings between Bujak and county officials since Bujak resigned in September 2010 amid allegations he improperly took money from a contract to use county resources to prosecute Nampa cases.

County Commissioner Steve Rule said in a May affidavit that Bujak’s legal actions show “a manipulative pattern of abuse designed to embarrass the county while forcing the needless and exorbitant expenditure of taxpayer dollars.”

Bujak has accused the county of mounting a “smear campaign” against him, and his attorneys said the county attempted to “vilify” him by revealing the latest allegations to the media.

The lawsuit hinges on the public release of an affidavit in which an Idaho State Police investigator says he believes Bujak falsified a document that supports his defense and faxed it anonymously to the special prosecutor in his case.

The lawsuit says Taylor emailed the affidavit to Idaho Press-Tribune Managing Editor Vickie Holbrook the night of April 25, but Ada County did not unseal the search warrant documents until the following morning. Court documents show the warrant was returned the afternoon of April 24, and special prosecutor Bill Thompson has said the affidavit became public record upon return of the warrant.

Responding to a public records request, Canyon County provided Bujak with the Taylor-Holbrook emails, but not the text messages referred to in one of those emails. After the county didn’t comply with two requests for the texts, Bujak filed suit.

His complaint asks a judge to declare county officials in violation of the public records law and force them to disclose the texts or show cause why they can’t be released. He also wants the judge to impose $1,000 fines on “any public officials who acted to deny access … deliberately or in bad faith.”

Kristin Rodine: 377-6447