It alleges that GAB chief counsel Kevin Kennedy and Jonathan Becker, administrator of the agency’s ethics and accountability division, “unilaterally admitted the GAB to John Doe II without the knowledge or approval of the GAB Board.”

The lawsuit alleges that Kennedy and Becker waited two and a half months before informing the board of the five-county investigation and then “rather than informing the GAB Board about their prior involvement, Kevin Kennedy and Jonathan Becker misled the GAB Board about the time period in which they had ‘learned’ of John Doe II.”

Agency defended

But David Deininger, the retired appeals court judge who chaired the board during the launching of the John Doe investigation, defended Kennedy and the GAB staff Friday.

Deininger was skeptical about the assertions made in the complaint. He said he didn’t recall exactly when the board was made aware of the investigation, “but something of this magnitude would have been brought to our attention at the earliest opening.”

“They would know this would have been something the board needed to be up to speed on from the get-go,” Deininger said.