CT commission delivers sharp, public rebuke to state’s chief public defender
The commission that oversees the state’s public defender service has issued an unusual public reprimand to its chief, TaShun Bowden-Lewis, for allowing division morale to plummet, disregarding its instructions and leveling baseless allegations of racism against those who disagree with her.
The sharply worded, five-page “Letter of Reprimand” was delivered late Tuesday, a little more than a year after Bowden-Lewis was appointed to lead the public defenders who represent the state’s indigent in court. She was applauded as the first Black woman to be named chief, but in the months since, her policy goals, disagreements with the commission and — in the view of the commission and others — preoccupation with race, has created turmoil in the 450-member agency.
“You have engaged in a practice of marginalizing members of the Division with whom you disagree or who you do not like or respect, and you have engaged in a practice of retaliating against persons who you perceive as standing up to you or who otherwise express their disagreement with you,” the letter said.
“You frequently talk about “collaboration,” “cooperation,” “communication” and transparency” but too often you do not engage in those critically important practices, either in your dealings with the Commission or in your dealings with members of the Division,” the letter said.
On the issue of race, the letter recounted episodes in which Bowden-Lewis accused the commission, which is empowered by law to supervise the agency, of racist behavior toward her, personally, because it disagreed with her management decisions.
She also was rebuked for failing to investigate a complaint by a Puerto Rican lawyer who said he was the subject of a derogatory racial comment — he said he was accused of wanting to be “white” — while meeting with the agency’s acting human resources director and its director of diversity, equity and inclusion. The lawyer, who holds a senior position in the agency, had previously expressed concern in public that some of Bowden-Lewis’ policy choices could undermine the service’s core mission of defending the poor in court.
Among other things, the commission said in its reprimand that Bowden-Lewis had an obligation under state personnel rules to investigate the complaint. What’s more, the commission said she knew the lawyer’s formal complaint would become public and, by ignoring it, she contributed to a loss of confidence in “the fairness and propriety of Division personnel decisions.”
“Moreover, under the particular circumstances presented, the refusal to have the complaint investigated gives rise to a legitimate concern as to whether that decision was the product of retaliation against the complainant and/or favoritism toward the subject of the complaint,” the commission said in its letter.
By focusing on her personal agenda for the division rather than its core responsibilities, the commission complained in its reprimand that open positions for lawyers have gone unfilled and money for those positions had to be returned to the state budget.
As has been the case in the past when her leadership has been criticized, Bowden-Lewis vowed to remain in her position.
“As an attorney working for this Division for over 25 years, I am invested in this work,” she said in a written statement. “I am aware of the issues we have faced throughout the decades and the ones that continue to be challenges. My vision for this Division has been consistent and will never change.”
“I am purposed and poised to assist the Division to get to the next level in representation for the communities we serve,” she said. “I will not waiver in my commitment to improve the Division as a whole and create systemic change to give our clients, and their families, the services and advocacy they deserve. I will remain the Chief Public Defender and continue to do the work that fuels my soul.”
CT public defender tells oversight commission division is ‘fractured along racial lines’
The racially diverse commission voted unanimously to deliver the comprehensive letter of reprimand to Bowden-Lewis after discussing it at a closed meeting late Tuesday night.
Her response suggests continuing friction between the chief and the commission.
Among other things, the commission has complained that Bowden-Lewis failed to fill vacancies, address high lawyer caseloads and has delayed putting into effect budget measures that would pay public defenders at rates equivalent to state prosecutors. At the same time, she continues to push programs that the commission has not endorsed, such as creation of a public affairs operation and a new unit that would help find housing, jobs, food and social services to inmates who are released from prison.
The commission addressed some of those concerns in the letter of reprimand.
“Your disproportionate focus and emphasis on certain of your goals for the Division, including “rebranding” the Division and establishing an external affairs unit and a reentry unit (neither of which unit has been approved by the Commission) has interfered with and detracted from your attention to the core mission of the Division ─ that is, to ensure that its indigent clients are represented effectively by fully staffed and fully supported field offices around the state, and, to that end, that caseloads are reduced to the fullest extent possible given available resources ─ as evidenced …by your refusal to fill seventeen vacant and fully-funded positions in fiscal year 2022-2023, thereby resulting in the return of the funding allocated to those positions for that fiscal year.”
The commission also rebuked Bowden-Lewis for acting against instructions from Commission Chairman Richard N. Palmer by writing a nonrefundable, $15,000 deposit on a venue for a division picnic. Palmer wanted the commission to approve the expenditure in advance, in part because only a third of the employees attended the $30,000 event the year before.
“When informed by a Division employee that a check in the amount of $15,000 had been issued and forwarded to Holiday Hills by the state Office of the Comptroller due to your failure to take the necessary action to ensure that that deposit was not paid, the Chairperson was required to make a formal emergency request of the Office of the Comptroller that, if possible, payment of the check be stopped, which that Office succeeded in doing,” the letter said.
The commission said that Bowen-Lewis repeatedly treated division employees and others, including Palmer, in a “disrespectful and highly antagonistic manner” and “you have leveled written allegations of racial discrimination” by members of the commission “based on facts that do not support those allegations.”
“These claims involving members of the Commission reflect your propensity to resort to unfounded allegations of racial discrimination when you disagree with actions or decisions of the Commission,” the letter of reprimand said. “Moreover, these and other disputes you have had with the Commission are predicated, in large measure, on your unwillingness to accept the broad mandate of the Commission, which, by statute, is “responsible for the carrying out of the purposes” of the division.
The commission complained that Bowden-Lewis’s behavior had “adversely affected the ability of the Division to recruit and retain personnel,” in addition to undermining morale.
The commission gave her specific measures it said it expected to be taken to “rectify” her behavior, including seeking prior approval for consequential discretionary spending, complying with existing contracts, taking all reasonable steps to fill vacant positions and acting immediately to have public defenders paid at the same level as prosecutors.
Should she not comply, the commission said Bowden-Lewis will face “further disciplinary action.”