The Denver City Council made it official late Monday night, they will not investigate or take any action in the sexual harassment claims against Mayor Michael Han(d)cock by a former member of his security detail.
The 9:30 p.m. announcement by council President Albus Brooks came after yet another closed-door meeting by the full council, who refuse to speak on the matter.
Instead of the city holding the mayor accountable, Brooks made the outlandish recommendation that Hancock create his own policies to follow in the future to hold his own self accountable.
Yes, we had a little fun on April Fool’s day with a post about Hancock resigning, but this time we’re serious. What the council did might be a joke, but this is no prank.
The Denver Post has Brooks’ full statement.
Brooks claims they cannot grant Detective Leslie Branch-Wise’s request for an investigation because they are a legislative, not a judicial branch of government and as such “we are unable to make a legal conclusion about the Mayor’s conduct and there are no disputed facts.”
Actually the scandal is one giant disputed fact. Branch-Wish says Hancock sexually harassed her, the mayor denies sexually harassing her.
The mayor left it to his spokesflak Amber Miller to make a statement for him:
“From the start, Mayor Hancock has been open, honest and transparent about this matter. He has taken full responsibility …”
Not to beat a dead horse, but when a person denies they did something that was wrong, they are not taking responsibility.
So the cover-up has now been completed. There will be no investigation, there will be no repercussions by the city.
It’s now up to the voters to draw their own conclusions and decide in the 2019 election if they want to keep a mayor and council that refuses to take accusations of sexual harassment or any future wrongdoing seriously or hold themselves accountable to the same rules and regulations they enforce on others.