July 30, 2007 07:37 PM UTC

Denver Post: What's Up With Jefferson County?

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• by: Colorado Pols

Over the last several months we’ve been chronicling the strange saga that is Jefferson County Republican politics, and yesterday the editorial board of The Denver Post weighed in with their opinion”

Congratulations, Jefferson County. Your county commissioners have once again made Jeffco look like a backwater.

In this episode, commissioners almost certainly violated Colorado law by failing to give public notice of a meeting they held on the 2008 budget.

Commissioners Jim Congrove, Kathy Hartman and Kevin McCasky should have known better. The explanation from Congrove and Hartman, boiled down to its essence, was “oops.” McCasky was unrepentant, saying he didn’t think the news media had any business being there.

If this were the first time elected Jeffco officials had run afoul of the law, it’d be one thing. But the county has a tradition of flouting laws and civilized behavior…

…The gaffe threatens to be another episode in Jeffco’s sorry government traditions. Who can forget the Pinky T episode? Commissioner Rick Sheehan’s wife was caught sending raunchy faxes to a government critic in an effort to get the gadfly to publish the libelous material. Sheehan resigned in disgrace and cost the county more than $60,000 in legal bills.

Also, a special prosecutor is investigating allegations that the county used public money to spy on private citizens after Congrove and McCasky urged former county attorney Frank Hutfless to hire the investigator.

The other notorious image that haunts Jeffco is Mark Paschall in jail-issued orange togs. The former treasurer was indicted earlier this year in an alleged kickback scheme.

The citizens of Jefferson County have been putting up with dysfunctional government for far too long. They deserve better, and no one should be surprised if they voice their displeasure at the ballot box.

Sheehan is no longer around, nor is Paschall, but the rest of the so-called “Kings of Corruption” – Commissioners Kevin McCasky and Jim Congrove continue to rule with a paper mache fist.