The Colorado Independent's Tessa Cheek breaks news on the developing controversy over Independence Institute director Jon Caldara's alleged vote fraud, committed during the recent recall special election in Colorado Springs:
Last week, Senate President John Morse’s campaign manager Christy Le Lait filed a complaint with Fourth Judicial District Attorney Dan May, calling for an investigation of political stunt man Jon Caldara, the Independence Institute director and Boulder County resident who made a show of committing “gypsy” voter fraud and casting a ballot in the El Paso County election…
Caldara has since announced that the flooding in Boulder had made it clear to him he shouldn’t move away from his children, who live there. He said, upon reflection, he won’t be moving to Colorado Springs after all.
May seems to be at least taking the complaint seriously. His office told the Colorado Independent that he was passing the case to the Attorney General’s office.
“I can confirm that this matter was referred to our office by District Attorney May,” wrote Carolyn Tyler, a spokesperson for the Attorney General. “However, we do not comment on investigations, except in certain instances involving public safety, which do not apply here.”
It seems likely that Caldara's "decision" this weekend to "keep Boulder as a permanent home" had more to do with this now-confirmed criminal investigation than anything else. Uninformed editorials from chummy newspaper editors notwithstanding, we have yet to see any defense for Caldara's actions other than "civil disobedience." As we've explored in detail since the incident, that's not likely to cut it in this case. What Caldara did, voting in a district that he does not live in after falsely affirming a "sole residence" there, is a felony under Colorado law. Every sane interpretation we've heard suggests there was absolutely no grounds, moral, legal or otherwise, for doing so.
This also settles the question of whether or not Republican El Paso County Clerk Wayne Williams, or District Attorney Dan May, would attempt to impede or prevent the prosecution of Caldara. It's a relief to see, whether DA May did it voluntarily or in response to a request from the Attorney General's office, that they are doing their jobs and investigating the case. Gov. John Hickenlooper requested the AG's involvement in part out of concerns that Caldara might skate in this highly conservative jurisdiction.
We said before that we hope Caldara consulted with a good lawyer before he pulled this ill-advised stunt. Now it looks like may get to see how well that as-yet unnamed lawyer does keeping Caldara out of prison.
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$50
Caldera is not going to jail, and if fined, in the end it will not be more than $50.
Why so cynical? I admit I was, but this changes things. Caldara went too far.
He might plea his way out of a felony, but this case needs to be prosecuted as a deterrent to other vote fraudsters. This was a seriously bad move for Caldara and all the Republicans who defended him, and he should not be spared the limit of the law.
GLWT.
Lots of guilty criminals don't go to jail. He'll have a good lawyer. Or two. (no one who posts here). ANd just like that lawyer who blatantly plagerized form a CO Supreme Court judge, and got paid for it, he'll be "exonerated."
Great news. Book him, Dan-o.
You guys laugh at Gessler when he turns people over to the DA, but we're supposed to accept this one report as gospel??
Innocent until proven guilty, libs.
Stupid until proven otherwise, enthreebee.
Har de, fucking, Har!
Caldera is guilty as fuck when he casted the first ballot.
Sorry, but Caldera's facing prison time with the promise of making sure that his time is painful and miserable. And he won't get to vote for a long time as a convicted felon. And won't be allowed to legally own guns again.
Sorry n3b, but this is a lost cause to continue to defend that fucking moron who should not be breathing our air.
Innocent until proven guilty is a legal concept, not a moral one. It means he's entitled to a trial before he's penalized under the law. But ordinary people can plainly see that Caldara is guilty as hell, and nothing about our legal system says people, who are not the government, can't draw conclusions from the plain facts in front of their face.
We laugh at Gessler because he's a ridiculous partisan SOB. Just like we laugh at you.
Well- there's "innocent" and there's innocent.
And then there's not guilty. The way I read the law, what Caldara said he did was illegal – and he admitted publicly he did it. I'm not accusing him of anything he hasn't already said he did.
He should be found guilty, and sentenced to whatever term he earned, plus make sure his time is miserable and extended for another 25 years. Involuntarily.
Sutter is facing an election year next year, and his ass will be kicked out if he does not do his job and prosecute him to the fullest, despite the same ideology as his other moron is. And I have not been satsified of Sutter's work, and would like him thrown out and replaced with someone who's more progressive.
And yes, I want every Republican to drink fracked water, and Frackenlooper to suck on it, big time. Thanks to the floods, we don't even know if our water is clean.
It's good to see that you're not over-reacting.
He even announced his intention to commit fraud. The point was to show how easy it is to vote fraudulently. Now all of a sudden he was really planning to move to C Springs and leave his kids behind in Boulder until the flood happened? Nothing very serious will happen to him and the buck stops with partisan hack/crook in his own right Gessler but I hope it at least causes him a lot of inconvenience and expense.
clean water?
Upstream from the floods – more or less.
Downstream form the Arsenal, the Flats, any of the open sewers and "no flush zones", flooded fracking tanks, fracked and flooded wells, damaged pipelines (Parachute- wayyy befor the flood) checmically treated golf courses, and other known hazards: in your dreams.
A. It's Suthers.
B. He's term-limited. He's not facing an election. The voters won't get a chance to kick his ass out.
Hawkeye, maybe you missed the news that Boulder's pipeline to the sewage treatment plant failed and 90% of Boulder's sewage was going straight into the creek? (I haven't heard any updates on this, BTW.)
The really bad stuff in oil/gas (e.g., benzene) tends to be volatile and evaporate pretty quickly. Raw sewage? Not so much.
I wouldn't be upset if a jury lets him go. He did, after all, cast a blank ballot, and for all his delusional nature, he did so in an effort to make a political point, not actually have his vote counted in the result. But it would be very good to see him prosecuted, rather than let off because he's an insider with political connections.
As I said on another thread, it doesn't matter how or if Caldara marked his ballot–he cast a ballot. To claim that a blank ballot somehow averts a crime is to argue that how one votes makes a difference on whether or not one violated an election law. How one marks ones ballot can get you jailed or killed in some countries–it should not matter in the US. And it is a secret ballot. Once cast, it can't be traced to an individual voter, and is handled like any other ballot (including others that might be blank). Caldara cast a ballot in violation of the law. That is all that matters.
Caldara cast a ballot. Doesn't matter what votes were or were not on it. After all, ballots are secret, and once cast no ballot can be traced to an individual voter. There is no way to prove–by law there is to be no way to find out–how an individual ballot was cast. The fact that Caldara showed his ballot as blank makes no difference–he cast a ballot.
To claim that a blank ballot somehow averts a crime is to argue that how one votes makes a difference on whether nor not one violated an election law. I don't think we want to go there–that's the realm of police states and dictatorships.
– See more at: http://coloradopols.com/my-comments#sthash.xLeDFhrx.dpuf
Sorry about the repetition. I tried to cut and paste. It didn't show up in the editor so I rewrote, but then it pasted when I posted. Guess I don't understand how this works.
The best part about Caldara's stupid stunt is that, if convicted, he'll join Doug Bruce in the penalty box, and that will keep him out of politics for a while. But will we miss hating him?
He's nothing but a low-down, double-dealing, backstabbing, larcenous perverted worm! Hanging's too good for him. Burning's too good for him! He should be torn into little bitsy pieces and buried alive!
Channeling your inner Yosemite Sam? 🙂
Close. It is a cartoon. Hanover Fist from Heavy Metal. I just couldn't resist…
nice.
I used to buy it all the time… nowadays I glance through once in a while. Still a great magazine.
Good
Nyborgmovie!Once again voter fraud. And, once again it is a Republican. The cases of voter fraud are all Republicans, no masses of non-citizens voting, just Republicans committing criminal acts.