Clashing over claim by woman

Detective who got suggestive texts from mayor says she was told not to name him in suit

The Denver police detective who received suggestive text messages from Mayor Michael Hancock six years ago says she perceived a $75,000 city settlement she received in another matter to be cover for the mayor’s conduct.

The settlement was approved by the City Council in connection with Leslie Branch-Wise’s sexual harassment allegations against a mayoral aide. Several council members from that time say they don’t recall any disclosure of a link between Hancock’s behavior and the payout — a facet they said they probably would remember — while the Denver city attorney’s office disputes there was a connection.

But Branch-Wise says she was told in 2013 “that the city would settle with me if I did not name the mayor in the suit.”

She said that was conveyed to her through her attorney, adding: “And when we were closing out the suit, I was again told, by the city, not to name the mayor — Mayor Hancock — in my suit, and they would settle.” She added later in the interview with Denver7: “I didn’t share a lot with them, but I did tell them that (Hancock) also harassed me. I told them.”

City legal sources confirmed to The Denver Post and Denver7, The Post’s television partner, that at least one ranking city official became aware of inappropriate text messages sent by Hancock to Branch-Wise, when her side revealed them in an attempt at leverage.

A private attorney who represented the city in settlement talks disputed Branch-Wise’s characterizations even as he acknowledged seeing the texts.

“I had many conversations with (Branch-Wise’s) attorney over a period of months,” said that attorney, Thomas Rice, in an email Tuesday. “While we were aware of the mayor’s text messages, Detective Branch-Wise’s personal attorney told us that neither she nor her client believed that the mayor had said or done anything that constituted sexual harassment.”

Similarly, current City Attorney Kristin Bronson said, “We flatly deny that we pressured her attorney at all into settling that case.” She said Branch-Wise did not face a confidentiality clause that would have prohibited her from talking publicly about Hancock’s texts.

Bronson said that at least a couple of the text messages publicized by Branch-Wise this year were familiar to attorneys who handled the settlement in 2013,

but they were unable to recall specifics of what they saw then.

Hancock’s text messages, as well as his public disagreement with Branch Wise over whether they amounted to sexual harassment, fueled calls in March for the council to investigate his conduct. Earlier this month, the council announced that its members, despite viewing Hancock’s behavior as “unacceptable,” decided against an investigation.

The episode also sparked demands from community activists for his resignation.

Branch-Wise’s comments about the settlement negotiations came in her original interview with Denver7 earlier this year, but they are being reported now for the first time.

She repeatedly suggested a connection between the 2013 settlement and her treatment by the mayor. But she said she did not know which officials were aware of the mayor’s behavior, since all of her discussions with the city and its outside attorneys happened through her lawyers.

Bronson and Rice both said Branch-Wise’s attorney in 2013, Christina Habas, a former Denver District Court judge, was highly respected in the city and represented her client ethically.

Habas was not available to answer questions this week, according to her law office. And Doug Friednash, Hancock’s appointed city attorney at the time, referred questions to the city attorney’s office.

Branch-Wise, a veteran police officer who still works for the city, left Hancock’s security detail in 2012, less than a year after the mayor’s first election. She cited sexual harass- ment by mayoral aide Wayne McDonald, who then was a close friend of Hancock’s and was the mayor’s special projects coordinator.

McDonald soon lost his job, and he filed a lawsuit challenging the veracity of Branch-Wise’s claim and his firing by city officials.

In July 2013, while McDonald’s lawsuit against city officials and Branch Wise was pending, officials agreed to pay Branch-Wise $75,000, including her attorneys’ fees. It was presented to the council as resolving her claim involving McDonald.

The city also needed Branch-Wise to testify in its defense in the McDonald suit, although his case would be settled in 2016, short of trial, with a $200,000 payout to McDonald and his attorneys.

Branch-Wise described the alleged harassment she faced while serving on the mayor’s detail as “an oppression that I felt hanging over me,” and she said she didn’t hide her discomfort with Hancock in 2013.

Asked if the discussions that preceded the settlement led her to believe it was “hush money,” Branch Wise answered, “Yes.”

Bronson, the current city attorney, pushed back against the term, calling it nothing more than Branch Wise’s opinion about the settlement talks. Bronson repeated that no legal constraints were put on Branch-Wise about what she can say about Hancock.

If worries about the mayor’s conduct played a role in the Branch-Wise settlement, they were not disclosed to the City Council before it approved the deal.

“Absolutely we were not given all the information,” Susan Shepherd, a former councilwoman, said. “There is physical evidence that this sexual harassment took place between the mayor and her,” she added, referring to the texts. “So absolutely, we were duped.”

When Branch-Wise spoke out about Hancock’s text messages earlier this year, the mayor apologized. He said he didn’t know until then that they had made her uncomfortable.