Gov. John Hickenlooper defended his Human Services director Thursday in the face of a no-confidence letter signed by more than 80 lawmakers, saying the Cabinet member has as “tough a job as there is.”
Hickenlooper’s office released a four-page rebuttal to the letter, which called on him to “correct or replace” the highest levels of leadership because of problems in child welfare, youth prisons and programs for people with disabilities and mental illness.
In his response to lawmakers, Hickenlooper made clear he has no plans to replace executive director Reggie Bicha. Instead, he said he intends “to continue with executive director Bicha to innovate and improve” Human Services.
The governor addressed each of lawmakers’ eight complaints about the department, including abuse of patients at the Pueblo Regional Center for people with disabilities, mismanagement of a job training program, overmedication of foster children, and lack of monitoring of county-run child protection departments.
All of the issues but one had been addressed by the department already, Hickenlooper said. The investigation into physical, verbal and sexual abuse of patients with disabilities is ongoing and under review by a third party, he said.
The governor called it “puzzling” that lawmakers said their requests to meet with his office about these issues were “ignored or denied,” insisting that, “with a few rare exceptions, we have been consistently available and have had an open door.”
Hickenlooper also defended Bicha against the claim that his department operates under a culture of “retaliation, secrecy and self-protectionism,” as evidenced by e-mails from staff members to lawmakers. “No such e-mails or records have been provided to the governor’s office,” he wrote.
Bicha refused an interview request. In an e-mailed statement, he said he welcomed “the opportunity to work with the governor and lawmakers” about any outstanding concerns.
Four lawmakers, all Democrats, delivered the letter to the governor Monday then were asked to return to his office Tuesday for individual follow-up meetings.
“I wanted to make sure that the governor knew. I wasn’t sure if he knew some of the concerns that I had from hearing several audits on the audit committee and on health and human services committee,” said Rep. Dianne Primavera, a Broomfield Democrat and one of four lawmakers who delivered the letter.
The other three — Sen. Pat Steadman of Denver, Sen. Linda Newell of Littleton and Rep. Dave Young of Greeley — declined to comment.
When asked if he confronted lawmakers about the letter becoming public, Hickenlooper responded, “You never embrace that tactic.”
“We’re public servants, so our job, whether it’s legislators, whether it’s citizens, if they’ve got a beef, our job is to listen and try and give honest answers,” Hickenlooper said while attending a ribbon-cutting in Fort Collins. “If we’ve got some big mistakes or problems, we try to fix them.”
Primavera, who is concerned about department programs for people with disabilities and the child welfare system, stopped short of saying the governor should fire Bicha.
“I personally can’t say if director Bicha is the problem,” she said. “I can’t say if it’s his management underneath him that’s the problem. What I would like the governor to do is assess the situation. It’s an important department, and it needs to be run correctly.”
Sen. Leroy Garcia, D-Pueblo, said he signed the letter because he is concerned about how the department handled allegations of abuse at Pueblo Regional Center. Patients were strip-searched by staff members looking for bruises as part of an investigation into abuse allegations this spring, and department leaders have not been forthcoming in response to lawmakers’ questions, some legislators said.
“I think the letter was in good taste and in good form,” Garcia said. “It’s important to raise awareness of those issues. That’s the spirit of the letter — how do we work collectively to address these issues that affect Coloradans.”
Lawmakers who did not add their names to the letter, including House Speaker Dickey Lee Hullinghorst and Sen. Mike Johnston, D-Denver, said they preferred “one on one” conversations rather than a letter en masse. “There are more effective ways to communicate with the governor’s office than this one,” Johnston said.
The governor said his office was reaching out to every lawmaker who had signed the letter.
Rep. Dan Pabon, D-Denver, said he “made a mistake in signing on to the letter” and that he would rather discuss the issues in person. Given it was circulated in the final days of the session, Pabon said he is not sure how many lawmakers read it thoroughly. “I got caught up in the dramatics of the moment,” he said.
As for Bicha’s future, Pabon said he hasn’t “seen any type of behavior that he is not qualified to continue serving.”
Staff writer John Frank contributed to this report.
