AG closes Maricopa Colleges board probe
The Arizona Attorney General’s Office has closed an investigation into allegations that governing board members for the state’s largest community college district were illegally communicating with each other outside public meetings.
Assistant Attorney General Richard L. Baek said the office was unable to substantiate a violation of state law.
“This matter is now considered closed,” he wrote in a Oct. 29 letter to Maricopa County Community College District.
The investigation began after board member Kathleen Winn filed an Arizona Open Meetings Law complaint in August, alleging that the board’s former president, Linda Thor, coordinated with other board members outside a public meeting to remove Winn as a board officer in January.
The state Open Meetings Law is designed to give the public access to government processes and to prevent public bodies from making decisions in secret. State law prohibits a quorum of board members from discussing business and making decisions outside of public meetings.
The complaint to the attorney general alleged board members engaged in serial or chain communication related to board leadership positions.
The complaint alleges Thor strategized in January to remove Winn as an officer through conversations with three other board members: Marie Sullivan, Laurin Hendrix and Tom Nerini. The complaint alleges that Hendrix then had conversations with board member Jean McGrath.
Robert Ellman, an attorney representing the college district, wrote in response to the attorney general’s questions that Thor, Sullivan, Hendrix and Nerini said they did not discuss board positions before the January meeting.
He said the topic of the board presidency came up in two unrelated, oneon-one conversations between two
different pairs of board members. But neither exchange rose to the level of a “discussion” under state law, he said.
“These conversations did not involve a quorum of board Members, and they were not part of a chain or serial communication,” he wrote.
Board members also said they did not recall creating, receiving or deleting text messages or emails where they discussed board leadership positions.
The college district provided to the attorney general attestations from board members, signed under oath.
Reached by phone, Winn did not have an immediate comment to The Arizona Republic on the attorney general’s decision to close the investigation.
Winn, a mortgage banker and realestate broker who has served on the board since 2019, has been at odds with other board members.
The board in September voted to censure and reprimand her and requested that she resign — a symbolic vote given that she fused.
The board vote came after an investigative report accused Winn of “significantly” tainting the search for a new college system chancellor. The report said she attempted to eliminate a candidate by speaking with the candidate to persuade the person not to apply. She also allegedly told the search consultant hired to find candidates to keep one of the job candidates out of the pool.
Winn has strongly disputed the report’s findings. She called the investigation a “sham” and has denied violating any board policies.
The board earlier this year canceled the search for a chancellor after allegations were made that the search process may have been tainted and has since started the search over. While the search is underway, Steven R. Gonzales, president of GateWay Community College, is serving as interim chancellor.
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