Boulder – The city’s human-relations chairman, in trouble for comments he made on his MySpace Web page about his job and his libido, will not face punishment.
Instead, the Boulder City Council voted unanimously late Tuesday to form a committee to create a list of conduct expectations for city board and commission members and to clarify rules to sanction or even remove those members when the expectations are not met.
“What is important here,” said Deputy Mayor Suzy Ageton, “is to reaffirm our confidence in the Human Relations Commission and to uphold the integrity of the Human Relations Commission.”
The controversy started earlier this summer when city officials received a complaint about a sexually explicit comment Human Relations Commission chairman Rob Smoke allegedly made to another MySpace user.
Smoke also included a link from his page to the city’s Human Relations Commission page and referred to his job as a human-relations commissioner, most notably in a riff on a song by The Doors at the top of his page: “I’m tired, I’m hungry, I’m horny, I’m stoned … and I’m a city official.”
In one section, Smoke 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).”
The Human Relations Commission is a five-person panel that promotes diversity in the city, advocates for the underprivileged and helps enforce the city’s human-rights ordinance.
Ageton had intended to offer a motion at Tuesday’s council meeting to discuss removing Smoke. But she said she decided it was best to make clear that such behavior won’t be tolerated.
Smoke said Wednesday that the City Council’s scrutiny is retaliation for his work as an activist.
“The idea that I hurt the commission is just absurd,” he said. “The stuff that council is spouting is all based on their desire to have their ideas go forward without anybody raising a stink.”
Smoke said he doesn’t take himself seriously on the page and it would be impossible to confuse his personal comments on the page with official statements.
He has continued to post on his My Space page since the controversy began, most recently writing on Tuesday of the council’s decision, “It turns out Suzy took a chill pill.”
Staff writer John Ingold can be reached at 720-929-0898 or jingold@denverpost.com.
