Drug court investigation broadened

The Kootenai County Commission is extending its investigation into the demise of the juvenile drug court by asking for internal correspondence between the county prosecutor and the manager of the failed program.

The commission asked this week for all e-mails between Prosecutor Bill Douglas and Juvenile Education and Training Court administrator Marina Kalani, who was hired by Douglas. Commission Chairman Gus Johnson wasn’t specific about what information the commission was seeking.

Last week, the commission asked for an accounting of the program’s finances, specifically how donations and private money were spent, in addition to federal dollars.

Johnson said not all of that information has been provided so the commission can’t make any comment.

The Spokesman-Review made a similar public records request Thursday.

The newspaper’s request hasn’t yet been granted because the county had to ask its insurance company to send an attorney to Coeur d’Alene to handle the inquiry. Johnson said the prosecutor’s office has a conflict of interest, as do the county’s civil attorneys because they all have been deputized by Douglas.

Douglas said Friday that the insurer also is providing him an attorney and that – despite rampant rumors to the contrary – he has no intention of resigning from his position as the highest law enforcement officer in the county.

Douglas, who was re-elected in November, said his assistant called while Douglas was playing golf with his son Friday to say the office was swamped with calls about his potential resignation.

“I just about fell over laughing,” Douglas said while playing the 12th hole. “It’s totally vicious.”

Douglas said there also are rumors circulating about him having an affair with Kalani, an accusation both he and Kalani deny. Douglas is Kalani’s direct supervisor.

“It’s totally ridiculous courthouse gossip started by little people and petty minds,” Douglas said. “My 31-year marriage, and living in this community for 20 of those years, speaks for itself. I have nothing to hide. It’s slanderous.”

Douglas’ wife Geri said she knows her husband isn’t having an affair with Kalani, who is a family friend. She agrees that the e-mails are harmless bantering.

“I’m not the least bit concerned,” Geri Douglas said. “A wife knows after 31 years if her husband is having an affair. We have three children. I’m the one who would know.”

Kalani said there is a misunderstanding about her relationship with Douglas, who is Hawaiian as is Kalani’s mother.

That tie to the islands “has increased my connection with the Douglas family,” she said, adding that Douglas and his wife have a strong relationship, one that she admires.

Douglas maintains that there was no problem with JET Court and that people are wrongly attacking Kalani’s management. The program that prosecutors offer to children as an alternative to jail time came to an abrupt end Feb. 16 when 1st District Judge Benjamin Simpson quit.

Simpson won’t comment on his decision but wrote a memo stating that he had “serious concerns about ongoing personnel problems and legal issues.”

The remaining six children in the program were referred to the juvenile court judge.

Douglas said he doesn’t think the county should release any of his correspondences because they may contain grievances lodged by Kalani against Simpson or other members of the team. He also is concerned about the release of juvenile names, families, treatment plans and other medical information.

In an e-mail Friday to county attorney Erika Ellingsen, Douglas wrote that releasing the electronic messages “may constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.”

He goes on to write that the letters may contain matters concerning Kalani’s “deteriorating health because of open hostility, expression of mental stress and anxiety.”

Douglas reiterated those concerns in his telephone conversation.

The county’s policy for computer use, Internet and e-mail states that the county reserves the right to monitor e-mail communications to prevent abuse.

“Employees have no right to personal privacy when using the e-mail system(s) provided by the county,” the policy states.

Kalani said that it’s shortsighted for the commission just to ask for communications between her and Douglas when there were about 20 people involved with the JET Court program.

Douglas hired Kalani in March 2004. She’s the third coordinator since the program started in 2002.

The program was funded by a $498,000 federal grant, which included Kalani’s salary of $14.23 an hour. The prosecutor’s office budget is now paying Kalani’s salary.

Douglas wants to reformat the program so it will help children beat substance abuse before they end up in the county court system. JET Court took high-risk children who had already violated probation.

Simpson’s disassociation from the court followed a nearly monthlong period when the U.S. Department of Justice shut down the county’s access to the grant money because it failed to provide a quarterly report on how the program was running. That report was received in mid-February, and the county again has access to the cash.

Kalani admits that there were problems with the program but not with the grant or how the money was spent. She said the program’s focus should be intervention so the county could help more children than those who have already violated probation.