December 11, 2014 12:16 PM UTC

Wayne and Holly Williams Love Them Some Gov'mint Money

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• by: Colorado Pols

As the Colorado Springs Independent reported yesterday, Holly Williams (wife of Secretary of State-elect Wayne Williams) is seeking appointment to the Colorado Springs City Council — a vacancy that the Council is expected to fill at a meeting on Monday evening:

Ten people are vying for an appointment to fill the unexpired City Council term of Joel Miller, who resigned to run for mayor in late November. The appointee will serve for 3 1/2 months, until voters elect someone at the April 7 city election.

Here's how the Indpendent describes Holly Williams:

Holly Williams, legal assistant, Law Offices of Wayne Williams, who recently was elected as Colorado Secretary of State. Holly is his wife and used to be public trustee in El Paso County, appointed by former Gov. Bill Owens, a Republican.

Why should you care about any of this? Because it may directly affect the work (and ethical duties) of new Secretary of State Wayne Williams, the El Paso County Clerk and Recorder who has already said he plans to "moonlight" with his private legal practice once he is sworn-in to the SOS office in January. Wayne is moving up to state office after spending years as an elected official in Colorado Springs (including a stint as an El Paso County Commissioner).

Wayne's wife, Holly Williams, also has a history of mixing government work with her husband's law firm. As the Colorado Springs Independent reported in October 2003, Holly was not shy about directing work toward the Law Offices of Wayne Williams while serving as the El Paso County Trustee (a job that got Holly in a mess of trouble on her own). You really should take a moment to read the entire story from the Independent, but here's how it all ties back together:

In a news story on page 17 this week, reporter Terje Langeland chronicles a recent audit of the El Paso County public trustee's office, headed by Holly Williams. The audit is not good; among other things it indicates that under Williams' watch, the office has been an open invitation for embezzlement and theft of funds. [Pols emphasis]

Williams insists that steps have been taken to correct the problems, but when you consider all of the players in the drama, the problems run far deeper than an office audit.

As the public trustee, Williams oversees a 16-person office that processes nearly $2 million in fees related to foreclosures and property purchased in El Paso County. Colorado Gov. Bill Owens appointed Williams, a Republican operative, close supporter and former piano teacher who has no formal accounting training, to the $48,500 job in 1999.

Williams is married to attorney Wayne Williams, a past chairman of the local Republican Party who, like his wife, co-chaired the Owens for governor re-election efforts last year.

Last November [2002] Williams was elected to the five-member Board of County Commissioners. The year before that, his wife hired him to do about $1,000 worth of legal work for the trustee's office. [Pols emphasis]

To recap, incoming SOS Wayne Williams has publicly stated his intention to "moonlight" at his law office even though voters elected him to a full-time job. But how is Wayne going to find the time to court new clients? He may not have to look far if Holly wins appointment to the Colorado Springs City Council; she's shown in the past that she has no problem re-directing public money to the law offices of her husband.

Perhaps this is how the Williams' family plans to implement the old GOP policy of creating smaller government with less regulations — you just privatize things and give the work back to yourself!