Jeffco school board president calls for own investigation

In the middle of a recall campaign seeking to drive him from office, Jefferson County School Board President Ken Witt tried to make a big campaign splash by calling for the Colorado Independent Ethics Commission (IEC) to investigate his alleged violations of Colorado’s open meetings law.

“This is a serious charge of unlawful behavior and it’s now going to be printed on an official election ballot. But for this accusation to be taken seriously, a complaint should have been filed,” Witt said during an Oct. 8 press conference.

“There’s already a frivolous accusation out there, and I’m just calling their bluff,” said Witt.

The director of the nonprofit Colorado Ethics Watch, Luis Toro said if this was a “real complaint” Witt would be prosecuting himself.

“It’s unprecedented. No one has filed a complaint against themselves.” Toro said. He added that Witt’s actions were especially strange given that the commission ruled six years ago that it doesn’t have jurisdiction over school boards.

While the IEC has no jurisdiction, those allegations have been a central issue of the recall campaign to remove Witt, and fellow board members Julie Williams and John Newkirk, from office this November.Since being elected in 2013, Witt and the board majority have been repeatedly accused of having closed-door meetings, meeting as a three-person majority outside of board meetings to discuss board issues and policies, and violating their board policies. The board majority have denied violating those policies. No outside investigation of wrongdoing has ever been announced.

Jeffco school board member Jill Fellman said she did not want to comment about Witt’s announcement. On the matter of board policy however, she said that Witt and the board majority had broken the rules several times.

She specifically mentioned Jeffco board policy “GP-02 Governing Style and Philosophies” which states that “The Board will not take a position on discussion agenda items the first time such items are placed on the agenda for Board consideration.”

“There’s the letter of the law and there’s the spirit of the law, and there is no consequences for breaking the spirit of the law,” she said around the Colorado open meetings laws. “I think they violated the spirit of the law, but with board policy and the hiring of Mr. Miller, well, they said they’ve been meeting with him since before they were sworn in.”

Fellow Jeffco School Board minority member Lesley Dahlkemper declined to comment.

Toro said that elected officials having chain discussions, either between themselves, or with an attorney, to reach a decision outside of a public meeting would constitute a violation of state law.

Jeffco United for Action, the group that sponsored the recall effort, released a statement after Witt’s press conference, calling it political in natures and inaccurate. The group said several district parents have filed complaints with the commission, but those were later dismissed because of the lack of jurisdiction.

The commission declined to confirm or deny if it has received those dismissed complaints.

“Ken Witt’s political stunt this morning is exactly why thousands of parents and educators are seeking to recall him,” said Lynea Hansen spokeswoman for Jeffco United for Action.

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