Nearly 90 of the state’s 100 lawmakers signed a letter delivered to Gov. John Hickenlooper this week saying they have lost confidence in the leadership of the human services department, requesting he replace top-level staff or correct the management problem.
The letter addresses “numerous accounts of disturbing issues” within the department that oversees child welfare, youth prisons and mental institutions, including alleged abuse of people with disabilities and overmedication of the state’s foster children.
“Most recently, these accounts have increased dramatically, now coming directly from our constituents, some having reached the public media outlets, with no word from the department or your office,” says the two-page letter, which precedes 86 signatures.
It says lawmakers also are concerned about a “pervasive hostile work environment” at the human services department, including a “driven-from-the-top culture of fear, retaliation, secrecy and self-protectionism.”
The letter comes after a tumultuous year for the department and executive director Reggie Bicha, who clashed with lawmakers over a youth prisons funding request one legislator called “deceitful” and a bill to give independence to the ombudsman who investigates the handling of child abuse and neglect cases.
“Please know I take all concerns seriously,” Bicha said in a statement. “I have worked my entire life to make the lives of families and children better — a goal I know is also motivating those who signed this letter.”
The Denver Post, which requested the letter Monday night, received it from the governor’s office Wednesday afternoon. The delay occurred because release of the letter required review by the governor’s legal division as a matter of procedure, spokeswoman Kathy Green said.
The governor and staff were surprised by the letter because “many of the issues had not been raised” during weekly meetings with legislative leadership, Green said. In contrast, the letter states lawmakers requested meetings with the governor to talk about the problems but were denied or ignored.
“Therefore, with the health and welfare of thousands of Colorado citizens at risk, the legislators signed below are asking for your formal accountability and stewardship in correcting or replacing the highest levels of leadership within the Colorado Department of Human Services, in whom we have lost confidence,” it states.
The letter, dated May 4 but delivered to Hickenlooper on Monday, does not mention Bicha by name. Hickenlooper hired Bicha from Wisconsin, where he headed the department of children and families, soon after he was elected in 2011.
Green said Bicha “has addressed or is currently addressing each of the concerns raised.
“That said, we take the letter very seriously and intend to review and provide the full context that the people of Colorado deserve. Our priority has been, and continues to be the health and welfare of our residents.”
Bicha said he had “brought a number of the issues noted in the letter to the attention of lawmakers and have worked collaboratively in addressing them.”
Sen. Lucia Guzman, a Denver Democrat who signed the letter, said lawmakers have been concerned in the past two years about problems within the department that surfaced during state audits and legislative committee hearings. Lawmakers who signed it also are concerned about allegations of abuse reported last month at the Pueblo Regional Center, which treats people with developmental disabilities.
“There was concern about problems that continued to arise in the department, which is responsible for the health and well-being of the most vulnerable people,” Guzman said.
Sen. Kevin Lundberg, a Berthoud Republican who signed the letter, said he is fed up with the department’s “intimidation” and “heavy-handed politics” when dealing with day care and child treatment facilities it licenses. The senator said constituents working with him on past legislation have backed away because the pressure from the department was too strong.
“We’ve been very frustrated with just the general tone,” he said. “What I have experienced through the years is an atmosphere of intimidation.” He said the letter was initiated by Democrats but he signed it “quite willingly.”
The purpose of the letter, which its authors originally intended to keep quiet, was to inform the governor of dealings between the legislature and the department.
In January, Bicha took heat from the budget committee regarding a request for additional guards for youth prisons. The department had asked state budget writers in December for $6 million to add 125 guards, but Bicha made no mention that the agency already started hiring in November.
The lawmakers didn’t learn about the 53 hires until January, when the department, which oversees the Division of Youth Corrections, asked for an extra $1.2 million this year to pay the new guards.
Sen. Pat Steadman, a Denver Democrat on the budget committee, questioned then whether the department’s initial request for extra hires was “purposefully deceitful.”
“These plans didn’t happen overnight,” Steadman said after concerns led the committee to unanimously reject the request for additional money. “And to keep it a secret … just really seems like poor form.”
Sen. Kent Lambert, the committee chairman, said the agency’s transparency problems are not new.
“Transparency, (it) appears to me, is what’s needed here,” the Colorado Springs Republican said in January.
On Wednesday, Lambert said he added his name to the letter because of multiple concerns about the department’s leadership and middle management.
“There is so much going on in that department, and it seems it’s in every division,” he said. “It’s just one bad audit after another.”
Sen. Rollie Heath, a Boulder Democrat and one of 14 lawmakers who did not sign the letter, said he does not regularly deal with the department or Bicha and didn’t have “any personal knowledge of all of this.”
Human services department leaders also battled with lawmakers this session over a bill to give the child welfare watchdog independence from the department.
A compromise bill to move the ombudsman to the state judicial branch is awaiting the governor’s signature.
