Jan. 4 - Calling for a "new direction" for Denver's Civil Service
Commission, the city council is slated to oust a veteran member of the
beleaguered, five-person recruitment board.

The commission - which oversees hiring for the police and fire departments
- - has faced criticism over the past month for recruiting Ellis "Max"
Johnson, a confessed thief with an extensive drug history, to Denver's
police force.

City council members are expected next Monday to approve the appointment of
former council staffer Kelly Brough, 36, to replace longtime commissioner
Edward Sullivan, who has defended Johnson's hiring.

"I have no problem with the way the whole thing has been handled," he told
The Denver Post in December.

Sullivan could not be reached for comment Monday.

For the past several weeks, the council has been divided over whether to
reappoint or oust Sullivan - the only civil service commissioner whose term
is ending.

His supporters include council members Ted Hackworth and Ramona Martinez,
chairwoman of the city's safety and personnel committee.

Council members more critical of the city's safety department have pushed
for Brough, who worked as a legislative analyst for the city council's
office, helping Councilwoman Susan Casey draft a proposed overhaul of
police recruiting standards.

Brough since has worked as a facilitator for the University of Colorado at
Denver's Center for Public-Private Sector Cooperation where she helped
mediate debates on policies ranging from ball field rates to living wage.

"If anyone can do the job, she can," said Councilwoman Susan Barnes-Gelt.
"It's time for a change, for some new thinking and innovation on the Civil
Service Commission." Councilman Ed Thomas - a former Denver police officer
- - had harsher words for the commission, its "mystifying" hiring criteria
and its judgment about new recruits. He also knocked the commission's
director, Paul Torres, who has refused to comment on Johnson's hiring.

"Their performance is unacceptable and embarrassing," he said. "If we just
rubber-stamped a reappointment of the same commissioners, that would mean
that we accepted the activities of the commission and its director Mr.
Torres over the last year. And that could not be further from the truth.

"The message is that we don't accept the status quo." Johnson, 40, was
hired despite having admitted on his police application to using illegal
drugs 150 times prior to 1987. He fared poorly on psychological
evaluations, admitted to stealing from two former employers and
acknowledged shoving his ex-wife and a girlfriend. Further, he already had
been rejected by 19 other law-enforcement agencies prior to entering the
Denver Police Academy in November.

Thomas criticized Mayor Wellington Webb for what he described as sending
mixed messages about Johnson's hiring. Webb has said he wouldn't have hired
Johnson, but nevertheless supports Denver Safety Manager Butch Montoya's
decision to do so.