COD hires outside attorney to investigate ethics complaints against Trustee Ruben Pérez
College of the Desert has hired an outside attorney to investigate some of the ethics complaints made against Trustee Rubén Pérez by his fellow trustee and political adversary, Joel Kinnamon, officials said Friday.
No conclusions have been reached about the complaints, and a two-person subcommittee of other trustees said it expects to give an update on the investigation in February.
Chair Bonnie Stefan said on Friday at the Board of Trustees meeting that the subcommittee, consisting of herself and Trustee Ron Oden, determined some of the charges were too vague or did not fall under the scope of board policy even if they were true.
She said the district retained a "third-party neutral attorney investigator" from Van Dermyden Makus Law Corporation to conduct intake interviews with the complainants and investigate charges that do fall under board policy.
What are the allegations?
Kinnamon, who formerly served as COD’s superintendent/president from 2012 to 2021, had asked the board in December 2022 to censure Pérez for comments that Kinnamon alleged “disparaged” former trustees, former and current administrators and faculty as well as “political rhetoric (that) disparages my name and reputation, basically calling me a racist, again, from this dais."
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At the time, Pérez told the local website Uken Report that he “completely disagreed with the censorship” and defended his right to “speak truth to power.” At that same meeting in December 2022, Pérez had said he was first elected in 2018 by community members in the east valley who were tired of the status quo. He was re-elected for a second term in November 2022.
In addition to Kinnamon, at least one member of the public — Lynn O'Neill, a lawyer from Thousand Palms — said she had submitted a request to the college that Pérez be censured.
Stefan, who is presently serving an additional term as the board’s chair, had announced in February 2023 she was obligated to create a subcommittee to review “multiple written complaints about Trustee Pérez alleging that he violated provisions of the district Board Policy 2715,” which outlines COD’s code of ethics for its trustees.
The plan was to review charges against Pérez with COD’s counsel and allow him an opportunity to respond to the charges before making a report on its investigation and recommendation for next steps during a public meeting. An action could range from no further action to a warning, reprimand or censure of Pérez.
The subcommittee will review "factual findings" from the investigator in the upcoming weeks, Stefan said. The board of trustees' next regular meeting is scheduled for Feb. 15, according to its website.
Previous reporting by Jonathan Horwitz was used in this story.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: COD hires attorney to investigate complaints against Trustee Ruben Pérez
