Councilman floated idea that Hancock should suspend self
Flynn last month suggested a week of unpaid leave
Weeks before the Denver City Council decided not to launch a sexual harassment investigation against Mayor Michael Hancock, one member suggested that Hancock should punish himself.
In a March 2 email to the mayor’s chief of staff — newly obtained in a trove of council emails — Councilman Kevin Flynn floated the idea of a selfimposed week of unpaid leave. Flynn sent his message a few days after police Detective Leslie Branch-Wise revealed publicly that Hancock sent her several suggestive text messages six years ago, when she was on his security detail.
Hancock has rejected the idea, a spokeswoman said Wednesday, adding that he “has taken full responsibility for his actions.”
But five weeks ago, Flynn told the mayor’s top adviser that such a move could be appropriate — especially since local elected officials can’t be disciplined under the same Career Service Authority rules for harassment that apply to regular city employees.
“I, and likely all my colleagues, are hearing from constituents that we need to call for (Hancock) to resign,” Flynn wrote to Alan Salazar, the chief of staff. “I’ve been quoted saying I did not think so, that the ‘disciplinary process’ for the mayor is the next election, which is on the horizon anyway.”
He added: “So here’s my suggestion: The mayor impose an unpaid suspension on himself.” He noted the precedent several years ago of a City Council staff director who suspended himself without pay for being chronically late to work.
At the time, Salazar responded to Flynn’s email: “CM Flynn. Thanks for those thoughts. Let me consider and share with the Mayor.”
Flynn on Wednesday said he spoke with the mayor about his suggestion in recent weeks, after city employees had evacuated the City and County Building during a fire drill. “I asked him if he was still considering it and he said, ‘Yes, it’s still under consideration,’ ” Flynn recalled.
That consideration appears to be over.
“Mayor Hancock’s apology was sincere, open and public,” spokeswoman Amber Miller wrote in an email late Wednesday afternoon. “He is held accountable every day by the people of Denver and has taken full responsibility for his actions.
“The mayor appreciated Councilman Flynn’s outreach but decided that self-imposing consequences was not an appropriate response.”
Flynn’s exchange with Salazar was among 200 emails related to the mayor’s scandal that were sent or received by council members and were obtained by The Denver Post through an open-records request by a media consortium, which also consists of Denver7 Investigates, KUSA-Channel 9, KDVR-Channel 31 and radio station 710 KNUS.
The emails include messages received from constituents and activists that attempted to put pressure on the council to call on the mayor to resign or to launch an investigation using the council’s power under the charter.
No council members have called for Hancock to resign, and some responded to those emails by defending their assessments of the situation. But others demurred from weighing in individually, instead sending on the council’s early joint statement on the issue.
The emails also shed light on an eyebrow-raising episode involving a letter Councilman Rafael Espinoza sent to Hancock on March 12. It called for an outside investigation into the text messages and two settlements worth $275,000 that were connected to Branch-Wise’s earlier sexual harassment claim against a mayoral aide. (She received $75,000, and the fired aide received $200,000.)
“For pete’s sakes,” Councilwoman Mary Beth Susman wrote when she forwarded Espinoza’s letter to her aides. Flynn suggested in an email to Espinoza that “you’re out over the tips of your skis” in asking for an investigation, given what was known.
And Espinoza, who defended his call based on unanswered questions he had, expressed surprise to President Albus Brooks and Councilman Jolon Clark that his letter to the mayor was leaked to The Post within hours after he sent it.
“Naively, it never occurred to me that one of our own would leak such a letter,” Espinoza wrote, to which Brooks responded by noting it was a public document.
Ultimately, the council decided against launching an investigation into Hancock’s conduct on April 2 after meeting behind closed doors in two executive sessions with its legislative counsel. BranchWise’s attorney blasted the decision last week.
Brooks said in a statement that the council, unlike a court, lacked the authority to conclude whether Hancock’s actions amounted to sexual harassment. But the council also called the conduct “unacceptable.”
Hancock’s texts complimented Branch-Wise’s appearance, asked about pole dancing and said she “(makes) it hard on a brotha to keep it correct.”
He has apologized publicly to Branch-Wise, calling the texts inappropriate. But he has not agreed with Branch-Wise’s characterization of the communication as sexual harassment.
In his March 2 email, Fly- nn said that in his initial evaluation, the sending of similar text messages by a regular manager within city government would be more likely to result in discipline short of firing, such as a letter of reprimand or a suspension.
He followed up after receiving Salazar’s short response, writing that a selfimposed suspension would be “a path forward that provides clearer resolution and is consistent with what might occur to any other city supervisor covered by CSA rules. Sends a positive message.”
Flynn said Wednesday that he was working on a proposed ordinance change that would establish a process for the filing of complaints against elected officials. It could allow for suspensions, fines or other consequences, he said. Other council members also are discussing options for ordinance changes, he said.
“It just feels unsatisfactory to the public that someone like me wouldn’t have a consequence if I did something that a supervisor at a city agency (could be punished for),” Flynn said.