The Colorado Independent Ethics Commission dismissed the ethics complaint against Custer County’s public health director, Clifford Brown, in an order issued Wednesday.

The complaint, filed in December 2020 by Jordan Hedberg, publisher and editor of the Wet Mountain Tribune, alleged Brown committed two criminal violations: second degree forgery and use of forged academic records. Those charges were tied to academic credentials Brown submitted to the Custer County board of public health, which is made up of the county commissioners.

Brown claimed he holds a 2008 master in public health degree from Dartley University. A 2012 book on diploma mills, written by a former FBI agent, said Dartley had no authority to grant degrees. The National Student Clearinghouse, a non-profit and leading provider of educational reporting, data exchange, verification, and research services, also has no record of Dartley University in the United States.

The 2012 book identifies Dartley as being based in Delaware. However, Colorado Politics found that the state of Delaware has no record of the university within its corporation database. The higher education division of the Delaware Department of Education told Colorado Politics it has no record the university ever existed in that state.

Hedberg also claimed Brown violated the public trust by continuing to misrepresent his credentials since being appointed to the job. Hedburg noted during a Nov. 16 hearing that Brown signs emails with “MPH,” a degree that, according to the documentation Brown submitted to an ethics commission investigator, he does not have.

The investigation report, obtained by Colorado Politics, shows the degree Brown submitted – a master of science in public health, which is a research degree – is faint and poorly copied. All of the signatures are illegible. The transcript is also poorly copied and barely legible, and is signed by a “Phillip Samuels, Registrar” but is undated and does not have a university seal that would verify its authenticity, which is standard industry practice.

Online diploma mills are not banned under federal law. An online diploma mill is defined as an entity that lacks accreditation from a state or professional accreditation organization, but that nonetheless sells college and graduate degrees that are fraudulent or worthless because of the lack of standards.

Brown told the commission’s investigator that he could not vouch for Dartley University. Brown said he took two years of online classes, including online tests. According to the investigation report, Brown said the MPH program at Dartley did not include written academic materials; there were no written exams and there were no written substantive class materials. “Rather, substantive activities at Dartley were all oral, including phone calls and exams. There were no class lectures. Exams were conducted by four examiners. Respondent does not remember examiners’ names or qualifications.”

Rules from the State Board of Health require a non-physician candidate for public health director to hold a master’s degree in a public health discipline, such as environmental health, health education, epidemiology, health administration/policy, and biostatistics; nursing, public administration, health administration or a closely related discipline; and, five years within the past ten of administrative experience in public health.

In the  investigation report, Michelle Shimomura from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), said she knew the degree from Dartley was “controversial.” She also admitted she never validated Brown’s educational qualifications, telling the investigator that if the information was inaccurate, that’s the county’s problem.

Brown’s resume showed he served in the US Public Health Service until 2010 and from 2013 to 2018 with Alabama’s Veterans Administration facility. In those positions he worked as an optometrist or in management of optometry, not epidemiology or virology. He is not licensed to practice optometry in the state of Colorado, according to a review of records from the state Department of Regulatory Agencies.

In its order, the commission wrote that “violation of those statutes could constitute a violation of the public trust if such actions allowed respondent to improperly benefit financially from his public employment, and thus may constitute ‘other standards of conduct’ within the commission’s jurisdiction.”

However, the commission decided for two reasons that it did not have jurisdiction over Brown. First, because the commission decided the submission of the academic credentials came prior to his hiring as a county employee, he would not have been under the commission’s authority until he was hired. 

And, on the second degree forgery allegation, the commission noted – something county attorney Clint Smith cited during the Nov. 16 hearing – the statute specifically excludes academic records.

Finally, Hedberg’s claim that Brown continues to violate the public trust by holding a position for which he is not qualified is not a violation under the state ethics law, the commission’s dismissal order said.

Hedberg told Colorado Politics he is disappointed by the commission’s ruling.

“The people of Custer County, which has the oldest (by age) population in the state, has a county employee pretending to have training and experience we have clearly shown he does not have during a pandemic. It’s clear that the state on every level is simply not interested in the education or training credentials of its employees that serve the public during a crisis,” he said.

Since Brown became public health director in 2020, the county has been mired in controversy over its handling of the pandemic.

On March 3, the Custer County board of public health decided to lift all COVID restrictions, according to reports from the Wet Mountain Tribune. Brown reportedly told the board that an executive order from Gov. Jared Polis “allows a county to lift restrictions if it has returned to normal.”

Just two days later, Jill Hunsaker Ryan, executive director of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, wrote to the board and Brown, reminding them that their decision “is in direct violation of the governor’s executive orders and the state public health orders” issued by CDPHE. Ryan said the executive order “further requires consultation with the state and the meeting of specified metrics in order for a county to move levels. Custer County has not consulted with CDPHE on moving levels in the Dial.” Brown claimed he had consulted with CDPHE.

Despite warning that ignoring state law could result in denial of certain state funds, CDPHE took no action. 

Custer County, population just under 5,000, has one of the state’s highest rates of COVID-19 infections, currently with a one-week positivity rate of 13.6%. That’s more than 4 percentage points above the state average. All three county commissioners tested positive for COVID after a March 10 public meeting in which no one wore masks.

Brown did not respond to a request for comment.