Several Denver City Council members have asked the council’s attorney to provide guidance on a potential investigation of the mayor one day after a former security detail officer said she wanted a formal sexual harassment probe into his behavior.
Councilwoman Robin Kniech, who has asked for a legal memo, says that could be the first step toward starting a council investigation into recently disclosed suggestive text messages that Mayor Michael Hancock sent to the police officer in 2012.
President Albus Brooks confirmed that other members have asked for guidance about the council’s investigatory power, too.
Both said in interviews that such advice and information would help the council weigh Detective Leslie Branch-Wise’s new public request, as voiced in . And the guidance also may aid Branch-Wise and the public in understanding the details of how a council investigation would work, they said, since it’s an unheard-of occurrence in Denver.
The council doesn’t have the authority to discipline or remove the mayor, but an investigation could result in public findings or possibly an informal censure, since the charter doesn’t provide for formal censures. Only voters, by petitioning for a recall election, can force out a mayor. So far, no critics have said publicly that they plan to pursue such an undertaking against Hancock, who is expected to run for re-election in May 2019.
“This is unprecedented, so itap going to take us a while to actually understand the scope of work — what are we investigating, given that we have heard a lot of questions,” Brooks said. “So we need to meet with Ms. Branch-Wise and really figure out what it is she is asking us to do.”
My Statement in light of Det. Branch-Wise call for an investigation against Mayor Hancock.
— Albus Brooks (@AlbusBrooks)
The council’s renewed attention comes after a joint statement last week indicated that its members were ready to put the matter to rest. That was unless Branch-Wise, who first made Hancock’s old text messages to her public in a Denver7 interview on Feb. 27, wanted otherwise, the statement said.
Branch-Wise, in the new interview Sunday, supported the initiation of an investigation. She also took exception to the council’s rationale in its statement, including its speculation that a public investigation could “re-victimize” her.
“I do want an investigation, and I’ll be more than happy to cooperate with an investigation,” Branch-Wise said.
On Monday, Branch-Wise’s attorney, Sean J. Lane, sent to council members that also urged a formal investigation.
The only council member to call outright for an independent probe has been Rafael Espinoza. But he later signed on to the council’s statement deferring to Branch-Wise’s wishes.
Kniech took issue Monday with an assertion by Branch-Wise that nobody from the council had asked about her wishes. She provided showing that she reached out to Branch-Wise on March 8, and that Branch-Wise acknowledged receiving her email — but did not follow up with a more substantive response.
After referring to an investigation as a possibility, Kniech wrote in that message: “If at any point you want to share any thoughts on the question of what if anything you think we as a Council should (or should not) be doing as it pertains to your wishes or wellbeing, or want to share anything else you want me to hear as one of your elected Councilmembers, I wanted you to know that my door is open to listen and hear you.”
In two more recent emails provided by Kniech, she forwarded the council’s statement to her last week and again reached out on Sunday after hearing about Branch-Wise’s on-camera investigation request. In the latter, Kniech offered to answer any questions she had.
Kniech said Monday she “did my best to reach out to (Branch-Wise) in as gentle of a way as I could — to offer her an opportunity to share what she wanted and needed.”
She added: “I’m still very interested in what she wants and needs. We now have more clarity on that,” following Branch-Wise’s Sunday interview.
Branch-Wise’s attorney, in to the council Monday, acknowledged Kniech’s March 8 email as a clarification to Branch-Wise’s earlier comments, saying she appreciated Kniech’s message. But the letter says Branch-Wise was unclear about whether Kniech was proposing an investigation as a possibility because the email also indicated that the council had no legal authority to impose consequences on the mayor.
Branch-Wise left the mayor’s security detail in 2012 after reporting separate sexual harassment by a mayoral aide. But she says now that the mayor’s texts also made her feel uncomfortable.
In one text string, Hancock asked Branch-Wise about pole dancing, and in another, he complimented her clothing and hair style, telling her: “You make it hard on a brotha to keep it correct every day.”
Hancock has apologized publicly and to Branch-Wise for sending what he considered “inappropriate” text messages, saying they blurred the line between boss and friend. But he has disagreed that they amounted to harassment.
Kniech and some other council members have been more vocal recently about making clear they consider the mayor’s conduct to be harassment.
On Monday, Hancock said he didn’t see any reason for more investigation — but he added that he would cooperate with the council if its members chose to launch hearings.
“I’ve been very transparent. I don’t know what else to share from six years ago,” Hancock said. He added that he would stand by his “heart-felt, sincere apology.”
Denver’s city charter says the council “shall have power to investigate any Department of the City and County and the official acts and conduct of any officer thereof, and may compel the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of books and documents.”
Councilwoman Robin Kniech on Monday provided this expanded version of a statement she has issued in recent weeks about Mayor Michael Hancock’s text message scandal:
Sexual behavior in the workplace is disrespectful and disempowering to women, and it is totally unacceptable. Responsibility always lies with the boss to set high standards and to live by them, and I’m deeply troubled by the Mayor’s actions, the environment it created for Detective Branch-Wise and the consequences for our City. It can be confusing and scary for a victim to try to navigate what to do about inappropriate behavior in the work place, no one deserves to feel uncomfortable or intimidated.
It is up to us as leaders to make clear that sexual behavior in the workplace is unacceptable, and anyone experiencing it can and should speak up and seek help. In response to questions I have received about whether this behavior constitutes sexual harassment, yes, sexual behavior in the workplace that makes a victim feel intimidated or uncomfortable is sexual harassment.