February 22, 2024 02:12 PM UTC

One Too Many Skeletons for "Shady Steve" in CO-03

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• by: Colorado Pols

Pueblo Republican Stephen Varela is one of those politicians who seem to exist in a perpetual state of shadiness. The latest trouble for “Shady Steve” may finally be the one that sinks him.

As Sam Tabachnick reports today for The Denver Post, Varela’s candidacy for the Republican nomination for Congress in CO-03 would seem to be in serious trouble:

When Stephen Varela became president in 2016 of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 2430 in southern Colorado, former union officers say one of the first things he did was ask the bank for a debit card for the union’s account.

Local 2430, a union representing U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs employees, explicitly states in its bylaws that its president and treasurer must both sign checks covering any union expenditures. That way there can be oversight of union money and how it’s spent. Debit cards are not normally allowed.

But Varela, who led the union until 2020 and is now an appointed member of the Colorado Board of Education, didn’t play by those rules, four former union officials and stewards told The Denver Post.

He would take trips to conferences and training sessions around the country — sometimes twice a month — and not turn in receipts for purchases he made with union funds, these employees said. They say he bought $1,800 in beer-making equipment in the name of fundraising for the union without board approval. Unauthorized expenses of union funds began to mount.

“He spent it like it was his personal slush fund,” one former officer said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they’re still employed by the VA and fear retaliation.

The U.S. Department of Labor appears to be investigating corruption claims that Varela misappropriated more than $100,000 of union funds, and a separate Denver Post investigation all but confirms as much.

The Post’s multimonth investigation is based on interviews with 19 current and former union officials, labor organizers and Pueblo community members. The newspaper also reviewed dozens of internal union emails, as well as criminal and civil court records and documents filed with the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office.

Varela, in a brief phone conversation last month, told The Post that he was not aware of any investigation into his union activity. He called the union allegations “fabricated” and “baseless” and said he left the union in “good standing and with a clean record.”

A 2019 audit report from the American Federation of Government Employees, provided by Varela, states that receipts, disbursements and cash were accurately reflected in the union’s records. He did not provide audits from other years.

Varela may have been using some of these funds to cover personal expenses. The Post reports that the Colorado Department of Revenue entered judgments against him twice in 2021 for unpaid taxes; and in 2017, a Pueblo private school sued Varela and his wife for defaulting on more than $4,000 in enrollment fees.

Varela has always had an unusually-large closet full of skeletons that Colorado Republicans have gladly overlooked while trying to promote him to new political heights. He has been a registered Republican since 2021, but he has previously changed his voter affiliation like most people change socks. Between 2011 and 2021, Varela changed his party affiliation an astounding 18 times — including twice in one day.

Varela ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the Pueblo City Council in 2019, and then lost a State Senate seat in 2022 in a district that favored Republicans. His 2022 loss was partly because of a run of negative press he received related to serving as the President of a local K-12 Preparatory School; numerous parents and community leaders called for his resignation for promoting (or not discouraging) a hostile work environment leading to the departure of several key staff members. It didn’t help his cause that BOTH Democrats and Republicans filed separate campaign finance complaints about Varela’s campaign along the way; Republicans alleged that Varela was raising money in part by telling people that he was actually running for Pueblo County Commissioner.

Two months after losing that state senate race, a Republican vacancy committee inexplicably appointed him to a position on the State Board of Education. This was the point where Republicans lost all credibility should then eventually attempt to distance themselves from “Shady Steve.”

After incumbent Rep. Lauren Boebert packed up and moved 400 miles to CO-04, Varela announced in January that he would seek the GOP nomination for Congress in her former district. Should he fail to win the Republican nomination against the likes of Ron Hanks and Jeff “Bread Sandwich” Hurd, Varela will likely stand for election to a full term on the State Board of Education.

It’s hard to believe that Varela will be able to win that nomination in CO-03 given this latest news. As the Post concludes:

Hilary Glasgow, president of the AFL-CIO Southern Colorado Labor Council, dealt with Varela through their work with the council. She called him a “snake oil salesman.”

“He skirts around the law all the time,” Glasgow said. “The things he does, he’s not doing it for some noble cause. He’s not skirting the law to make things better — he’s doing it so he can get more power and prestige.

“His noble cause is himself.” [Pols emphasis]

If all else fails — which it should — perhaps Varela will follow in the footsteps of another more famous Republican snake oil salesman and start hawking his own brand of sneakers.