Atherton: McKeithen denies involvement in Johns case

When the San Mateo County Civil Grand Jury admonished “at least one” Atherton City Council member for independently investigating complaints about ex-finance director John Johns, was its report referring to Kathy McKeithen?

The grand jury report, issued in July, doesn’t name any names, but Ms. McKeithen and Charles Marsala are considered the council members most closely associated with events surrounding the investigation and firing of Mr. Johns last fall. Mr. Marsala has requested numerous documents concerning Mr. Johns, and Ms. McKeithen allegedly asked for the investigation to be dropped and questioned town staff about Mr. Johns, according to the former interim city manager, Wende Protzman.

Ms. McKeithen vehemently denies those charges.

Ms. McKeithen, who is running for reelection in November, said she asked a few questions of town staff early on, but has otherwise steered clear of the imbroglio.

“There’s a fine line where due diligence as a council member ends and meddling begins,” she said.

Mr. Johns has a wrongful termination lawsuit currently pending against the town. He allegedly engaged in bullying and other inappropriate behavior on the job, according to an investigation report by private attorney Mary Topliff. He was fired in October by Ms. Protzman.

Ms. Protzman said Ms. McKeithen questioned her and assistant finance director Paula Pierce about Mr. Johns’ behavior, according to her sworn declaration filed in response to the lawsuit. Ms. Protzman also said that Ms. McKeithen made a statement that she took as a request to make the investigation go away.

Ms. McKeithen denied ever making such a statement, and said she doesn’t know why Ms. Protzman would claim that she did.

“Never. Never,” she told The Almanac, calling such a request “the most pointless thing imaginable.”

As a member of the Atherton Finance Committee, Ms. McKeithen said she had been a supporter of the job Mr. Johns did as finance director.

“I don’t know whether John Johns is innocent or guilty, and that’s not my responsibility and it’s not my business,” Ms. McKeithen said. “I have no vested interest in seeing someone who might have been doing something wrong stay on (with the town), no matter how good a finance director he was. It’s far better to get rid of him.”

Ms. McKeithen said she only asked Ms. Pierce about Mr. Johns after she heard that Ms. Pierce had a problem with him.

“Paula Pierce and I have known each other for years, and for years she’s said, ‘John is one of the best people I’ve ever worked with.’ I asked, not to investigate, but (because) I couldn’t help but wonder if I had misjudged John,” Ms. McKeithen said.

Ms. McKeithen said she did not ask Ms. Pierce any other questions and that she immediately notified Ms. Protzman. Other than filing her own court declaration after receiving a subpoena from Mr. Johns’ attorney, she hasn’t spoken with any town employees about the situation, requested any documents or even opened the investigator’s report on Mr. Johns, she said.

Ms. Protzman, now the deputy city manager of Solana Beach in Southern California, did not respond to requests for comment by the Almanac’s press deadline.

Mr. Marsala, who has made public the information he gleaned from Mr. Johns’ e-mails, cell phone records and town credit card bills, which he acquired using the state Public Records Act, has told The Almanac that he has been a vocal supporter of Ms. Protzman and former city manager Jim Robinson, and hasn’t done anything to undermine them.

Investigating complaints about town staff is the city manager’s job, the grand jury said. A council member conducting a parallel investigation undermines the perception of the integrity of the city manager and should be discouraged, the grand jury report said.