The chairman of Boulder’s Human Relations Commission is under fire for comments he made on his MySpace Web page.
One Boulder city councilwoman has notified colleagues that she plans to introduce motions to discuss the possible censure and even removal of Rob Smoke from the board because the postings may conflict with his role as a public official.
Interspersed with musings about his life, Smoke posted about his job as a commissioner. About the panel’s efforts to get University of Colorado officials to explain a crackdown on participants at a pro-marijuana rally, Smoke wrote: “Don’t they know we have DE FACTO LEGALIZATION of (at least) marijuana smokifyin’ here in Boulder?”
In the same post, Smoke also wrote, “The Human Relations Commission does do some very good things – and if you have a complaint about human relations in the city of Boulder, please call me so I can come over and beat the living bejesus out of you – (just kidding).”
Smoke said that he does not take himself seriously on his MySpace page and that the statements are his personal, sometimes scatological, expressions. He said it would be impossible to mistake the riffs as official statements.
“I’m sitting here, and I’m waiting for somebody to explain this to me what I did wrong,” Smoke said Monday.
Boulder Deputy Mayor Suzy Ageton told council members in an e-mail before their meeting last week that she planned to introduce motions to create a hearing body to review Smoke’s comments and for the city attorney to prepare a “notice of proposed agency action” for his possible removal.
Ageton’s motions said that Smoke “engaged in conduct that may be considered inconsistent with the characteristics required of Human Relations Commissioners” and that his comments “could be viewed as disparaging of the conduct and responsibilities of the Human Relations Commission.”
Ageton did not return calls for comment.
Last week’s meeting ran long, and the council never got to the motions. The earliest the council could take up the motions again would be Tuesday.
Smoke said he believes council members are trying to silence his work as an activist.
“I think when somebody is trying to point to something I said on a MySpace page as an excuse to bump me off the Human Relations Commission, where I have been an activist, it is a very cynical attempt to manipulate government,” Smoke said.
But Councilwoman Robin Bohannan, in an e-mail to other council members, said the council has a right to look into the matter.
“I think it is within our purview,” she wrote, “to ensure that we are responsive to the community when we receive feedback that the behavior of one may be placing harm on the reputation of the whole.”
Staff writer John Ingold can be reached at 720-929-0898 or jingold@denverpost.com.
