Denver mayor's adviser faces ethics complaint over law firm hire

An anonymous Denver city employee has filed an ethics complaint accusing Mayor Mike Johnston's chief strategist, Jeff Dolan, of a potential conflict of interest in the city's selection of a law firm to represent Denver in a lawsuit in which Dolan himself is a named defendant. This marks the second member of Johnston's cabinet to face an ethics complaint over the law firm selection.

The Sept. 20 complaint, obtained by CBS Colorado through an open records request, asks the Denver Board of Ethics to investigate Dolan's participation in selecting Wheeler Trigg O'Donnell to defend the city and individual defendants in a lawsuit brought by Everett Martinez, the former top lawyer at Denver International Airport.

The complaint argues that if Dolan helped choose the firm that would represent him in the litigation, he may have placed his personal legal interests in conflict with his official duties. The complainant also writes that the selection of WTO "doesn't pass the smell test."

"The staggering dollar amount, while we are all asked to make cuts and lay off friends, seems like another 'do as I say, not as I do' by this administration," the complaint states.

Jon Ewing, a spokesperson for the mayor's office, defended the contract and the selection process.

"The Wheeler Trigg contract was done by the book, plain and simple," Ewing said. "The contract has already been vetted and approved by Council..."

Ewing said Denver has used WTO as outside counsel on different matters for nearly two decades and that the firm was appropriate for the work.

"As for the anonymous complaint submitted to the ethics board, you know that such a complaint does not mean a violation has been committed," he said.

Dolan served on the panel that selected WTO along with Rob Nespor, an administrator in the city attorney's office, Karla Pierce, who was also an administrator in the city attorney's office,  Nicole Doheny, Denver's Chief Financial Officer, and City Attorney Miko Brown.

The complaint asks the Ethics Board to determine whether Dolan's participation constituted official action on a matter in which he had a substantial personal interest.

The complainant also takes aim at the cost of the legal representation.

"Hiring lawyers at Johnny Cochran rates (hiring people like that instead of our own should tell us all we need to know about why this abnormal process and choice happened) on the taxpayer's dime isn't in the code, it seems, but this conflict of interest should be," the complaint states.

The anonymous complainant identifies themselves as a city employee and says they fear retaliation if their identity becomes known.

"It's standard to be afraid of what the mayor and his handlers would do if they knew it was me speaking out, given my position, as I've seen what happens behind closed doors," the complaint states. "I'm also tired of the lack of truth-telling and shadiness surrounding this airport lawsuit."

Scrutiny of WTO's contract

The complaint adds to questions raised by an earlier CBS Colorado investigation about Denver's decision to hire WTO to defend the city in employment litigation. City Attorney Miko Brown was a partner at Wheeler Trigg O'Donnell from 2007 to 2017. She was named Denver City Attorney in 2025. She has said she did not have undue influence in selecting WTO for the lucrative city contract. "There is no conflict of interest here", said Brown. She said all four members of her panel voted to hire WTO, so when she was the last person to cast a vote for her previous law firm, it didn't impact the outcome, which had already been determined.

CBS Colorado previously reported that Denver initially agreed to pay WTO as much as $470,000 under a one-year contract to defend the city in two lawsuits brought by current and former city employees. The firm billed the city more than $850,000 in approximately four months, despite the original contract cap.

Four WTO lawyers were billing Denver as much as $800 an hour, including an associate who received her law degree in 2024. The contract also allowed paralegal billing at $375 an hour.

Denver City Council ultimately approved an additional $500,000, increasing the contract to $970,000.

The spending drew questions as Denver faced a projected budget deficit of approximately $200 million and prepared to cut costs.

Two ethics complaints against Brown

The complaint against Dolan comes as the Denver Board of Ethics is already investigating two separate complaints against Brown.

The first complaint, filed anonymously by a City Attorney's Office employee, questioned Brown's role in selecting WTO to defend Denver in the two employment lawsuits. It raised questions about whether she should have recused herself because of her previous relationship with the firm,  and who negotiated and approved its rates and contract terms.

The second complaint, filed by an anonymous employee of Denver International Airport's legal department, accused Brown of pressuring an insurance broker for DIA to have WTO retained in connection with litigation arising from a May incident in which a man was struck and killed by a departing Frontier Airlines jet at the airport.

The City Attorney's Office disputed that allegation, saying Brown did not pressure anyone to hire WTO. The office also said the airport's insurer ultimately retained the firm and was responsible for its legal bills.

In September, the Ethics Board voted unanimously, 3-0, to investigate both complaints against Brown. The vote did not mean the board had concluded she violated the city's ethics code; it meant the complaints warranted formal investigation.

CBS Colorado subsequently obtained emails and text messages that appeared to show Brown advocating for WTO to handle airport-related legal work after the airport's insurer, AIG, initially rejected the firm. Four days after Brown pushed back against AIG's decision, the insurer reversed course and agreed to retain WTO as local counsel.

Brown has declined repeated requests from CBS Colorado for an interview. Her office disputed the allegation that she pressured anyone to hire Wheeler Trigg O'Donnell.

The anonymous complainant against Dolan asks the Ethics Board to determine whether Dolan should have recused himself if he participated in the selection process.

The complaint itself does not establish that Dolan violated the ethics code. No finding of an ethics violation against Dolan has been established in connection with the complaint.