By Peter Jones
Sue Bosier
The Centennial City Council has decided not to instigate a second ethics investigation into District 2 Councilwoman Sue Bosier. On Jan. 23, the council voted unanimously not to conduct an official inquiry into a formal complaint filed against the controversial official, who was found to have violated the city’s ethics code in a $50,000 investigation last summer.
Bosier’s political activities were the focus of both complaints. This time, the city official was accused of harassing a Centennial woman who had refused to participate in Bosier’s partisan undertakings.
In the most recent complaint, Bosier was accused of aggressively drafting a woman’s involvement and potential candidacy in last year’s City Council race and harassing her after she refused.
Although some council members mildly chastised Bosier during the discussion, all agreed that the complaint’s allegations would be difficult to prove either way in an ethics hearing.
“I think we can cut this out by asking Mrs. Bosier to refrain from some of these activities,” District 1 Councilman Vorry Moon said. “Your rights end where my nose begins. If I’m sitting here and I’m saying I want to be left alone, then you probably ought to leave me alone.”
District 3’s Rebecca McClellan agreed the allegations did not justify the expense of an official probe and would be a distraction from other city business.
“I think it’s appropriate to differentiate between actions that may offend and actions that justify the public expense and council focus of a full-blown investigation, which we know can cost tens of thousands of dollars,” she said.
In an Oct. 19, 2011, letter to Mayor Cathy Noon, city resident Eileen McGuire-Mahony detailed her complaint against Bosier. The resident also reported the matter to the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office, which has declined to bring charges against the councilmember.
“I absolutely felt harassed,” McGuire-Mahony told The Villager last year. “It’s the pattern of behavior and the fact that it’s escalating and the fact that I haven’t been able to graciously put an end to it. I was concerned that it would have continued to escalate if I hadn’t taken that step.”
Bosier, who made no comment during this week’s council discussions, has previously characterized the entire episode as “just a complete misunderstanding.”
The two-term councilmember is a longtime Republican activist and precinct leader who has been active in the campaigns of numerous partisan and nonpartisan candidates in Arapahoe County. McGuire-Mahony describes herself as a right-leaning independent voter who was formerly active in the Republican Party.
According to McGuire-Mahony, Bosier phoned her home multiple times asking her to run for City Council and pressured her to support candidates. When the McGuire-Mahoney refused, she said Bosier became more persistent, made repeated visits to her home and followed her when she left.
The newest allegations against Bosier followed a six-hour ethics hearing held last summer after the councilmember was accused of improperly removing the campaign signs of county Commissioner Nancy Sharpe and lying to police about it. Bosier had been a volunteer campaign coordinator for former state Rep. Lauri Clapp, Sharpe’s 2010 Republican primary opponent.
At the June hearing, the councilmember was found guilty of seven violations of Centennial’s ethics code. She received a written reprimand, public censure from the council and was prohibited from running for mayor pro tem this year. Criminal charges were eventually dropped.
Earlier this month, the council declined to investigate a formal complaint filed against interim City Manager Dave Zelenok in relation to a 2008 traffic stop in South Fork, Colo. Zelenok was arrested for speeding and other charges and later won a $56,000 lawsuit against the town.
In the face of increasing ethics complaints, the city is in the process of rewriting its ethics code and procedures for handling complaints.
