County Manager’s Suspension Isn’t His First Cotter Served A Two-Day Suspension In ‘94 For Similar Comments

One of two Spokane County managers suspended this week for having an “earthy” on-the-job conversation also was suspended in 1994 for making profane and inflammatory comments.

Jim Cotter, operations manager at the Spokane Interstate Fairgrounds, was given a two-day suspension in 1994 for comments allegedly made to colleagues, according to county documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

That 1994 incident was one reason county officials reacted harshly when Cotter recently was accused of participating in an inappropriate conversation at the fairgrounds this summer, said Jim Lindow, the county’s chief administrative officer. Cotter was on unpaid leave this week for his part in that conversation.

For his role in the same conversation, Claude Cox, the county’s risk manager, started a four-week suspension Thursday. He was not involved in the 1994 incident.

Cotter did not respond to requests for an interview Friday night. His telephone number is unlisted, so the request was relayed to Cotter by his superior at the fairgrounds.

Other than Cotter, names were blacked out in documents released Friday.

According to the 1994 investigation, a female subordinate complained that Cotter jokingly asked her, “How would you like me to slap you on the ass?”

Another colleague also reported overhearing the remark.

During the same episode, according to the subordinate and another worker, Cotter referred to customers who had written a bad check as “queers,” and used a profane term for sexual intercourse to spice up the sentence.

They also quoted him as saying, “They wrote us a bum check, but what do you expect from a couple of faggots.”

Cotter told county officials he didn’t threaten to slap the woman and didn’t use profanity, but did use the word “queer” to describe the two male customers.

“Mr. Cotter states he does recall saying, ‘I guess the correct word would be ‘homosexual,”’ Chris Johnson of the county’s personnel office wrote in the 1994 report.

As a result of that investigation, Sam Angove, who since has retired as director of parks, recreation and the fairgrounds, suspended Cotter for two days. Angove warned Cotter that if he repeated the behavior “the discipline could include termination.”

Also made public Friday were documents concerning a conversation Cotter, Cox and an unidentified third man had in a fairgrounds office this summer.

Cox acknowledged telling the unidentified man that “you can’t knock up every woman you go out with.”

Cotter was reprimanded for not telling Cox the comment was inappropriate and for adding to the conversation.

“He (Cox) said that Jim Cotter pulled out his knife and ran his finger over the blade and said, ‘If you can’t keep your pants zipped, we can take care of the situation for you,”’ Personnel Director Ben Duncan wrote in his report.

The report does not say whether Cotter acknowledges making the remark.

The three men didn’t know that the woman who eventually complained was just outside the door. They were not talking about her, they told investigators.

The woman overheard part of the conversation and told investigators that the man in the room with Cotter and Cox told her they were talking about her.

Duncan wrote that Cox said he wasn’t harassing anyone, but was offering advice to the unidentified third man, who complained that supporting children born to two women left him with little money.

County documents show Cox was reprimanded not just for his on-the-job language, but for discussing his case with witnesses before they were interviewed by county investigators.

Cox had been warned not to discuss the case or try to sway the investigation.

It is also Cox’s second suspension. His first was in May for cronyism and lying during a county investigation to determine whether he inappropriately hired a friend for a county job.

In that case, he was accused of trying to persuade witnesses to alter their testimony.

Cox, whose job is to shield the county from potential lawsuits, is appealing his punishment, saying his and Cotter’s comments did not constitute sexual harassment.

Cox’s attorney, Donald Curran, said the county had no right to demand that he not discuss the case with witnesses.

, DataTimes