Denver City Attorney Miko Brown is facing the second ethics complaint in two days, this one accusing her of pressuring an insurance broker to steer legal work to the Denver law firm where she was once a partner.
The complaint, filed Monday by an employee of Denver International Airport’s legal department, asks the Denver Board of Ethics to investigate Brown’s conduct surrounding a May incident at the airport. The employee asked to remain anonymous, writing, “Miko will punish me.”
The complaint alleges Brown exerted pressure to have Denver-based Wheeler Trigg O’Donnell, or WTO, replace another law firm that had been hired in connection with the incident.
On May 8, Michael Mott, 41, hopped a perimeter fence and entered an active runway at Denver International Airport. Mott was struck and killed by a departing Frontier Airlines Airbus. His death was ruled a suicide.
AIG, a global insurance company that provides some insurance coverage for DIA, retained two law firms in connection with the incident: Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani, or GRSM, and WTO, where Brown worked for 10 years. AIG, rather than the city, was responsible for paying both firms.
The ethics complaint alleges Brown “sought to have WTO replace” GRSM. It further alleges: “She participated in or directed efforts through DEN/DEN Legal and DEN’s insurance broker to have AIG reverse it’s decision, via broker pressures”.
The City Attorney’s Office disputes that account.
In a written statement Tuesday, a spokesperson for the office said, “Miko did not exert pressure or direct efforts to have WTO hired instead of (GRSM). AIG is the insurance carrier for Denver and directly retained both (GRSM) and WTO to represent the City at AIG’s sole expense. No one from the CAO ever challenged or objected to (GRSM) retention. The alleged facts are inaccurate.”
The City Attorney’s Office also rejected other allegations in the complaint, saying, “We have no idea why people are making accusations based on inaccurate facts.”
Chris Lujan, a former assistant Denver city attorney who now practices law privately, said Tuesday that the two ethics complaints raise enough questions to warrant a thorough investigation.
“I don’t think the [ethics] board has a choice. I think they have to do a credible and substantive investigation to find out what happened here,” said Lujan.
The new complaint follows CBS Colorado’s investigation last week into Denver’s spending on outside legal work. That investigation found Brown’s former law firm had been awarded a city contract to defend Denver in two employment lawsuits, with WTO lawyers billing $800 an hour. One of those lawyers just obtained her law degree two years ago. In four months, Wheeler Trigg O’Donnell billed the city of Denver more than $850,000 for its legal work, nearly twice its original contract cap.
The first ethics complaint was filed last Friday by an employee of the City Attorney’s Office who also asked to remain anonymous.
That complaint asks whether Brown violated the Denver Code of Ethics by “exercising, directing, influencing, or failing to recuse from official action concerning the selection, engagement, supervision, budgeting, invoicing, payment and continued retention of Wheeler Trigg O’Donnell.”
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