Things are not looking so good for state Division of Real Estate Director Erin Toll.
Recent disclosures raise serious questions about whether she abused her power by ordering an investigation of a political foe.
The allegations are worrisome, and explain why she was suspended with pay in March. We think the public is owed a fuller accounting of Toll’s actions in order to understand whether she was an out-of-control administrator, or victimized for being an ambitious public servant with a strong reform agenda.
The latest disclosures, in a Denver Post story published Tuesday, point to the former.
During a Senate committee hearing earlier this year, Toll had gotten into a heated discussion with state Sen. Ted Harvey, a Highlands Ranch Republican who strongly opposed measures Toll was pushing.
The bills affected mortgage brokers and appraisal management companies. Toll said she felt “assaulted” by the exchange and called Harvey “vicious.”
The very next day, Toll’s division of real estate launched an official investigation into Harvey’s employer, American Home Funding, according to e-mail records.
Here the story diverges, and poses some other questions.
Toll’s lawyer said the division should have officially begun probing American Home Funding weeks earlier, and the discrepancy was an oversight by one of Toll’s subordinates.
The other question this episode raises is why Harvey was involved in attempting to shape legislation that would directly affect his profession. Harvey is a licensed mortgage broker and is under Toll’s regulatory oversight.
We understand his actions are not a violation of legislative rules and that other legislators do the same thing, but whenever legislation is being crafted that could directly affect lawmakers’ careers, it’s better for them to declare a conflict and step aside.
The allegations against Toll are even more troubling. After the bruising confrontation with Harvey, she reportedly told state Sen. Lois Tochtrop, D-Thornton, that Harvey was motivated by an investigation her office was conducting on Harvey and his employer. She repeated the statement to the media.
The statement was not accurate. Harvey was never the subject of an investigation. The best we can tell at this point is that the division was concerned about the content of some mailings Harvey’s employer had sent out.
Exactly when that interest morphed into a full-blown investigation and why needs to be answered.
Toll has said she is being pushed out of state government, and we think she is right about that. The pertinent question is whether it’s an effort to shut down a dedicated employee who makes a habit of ruffling feathers, or an appropriate shove out the door.
