March 13, 2013 01:07 PM UTC

Sheriff's "Extortion" Claims Collapse

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• by: Colorado Pols

KRDO-TV puts what may be closure on the big story from the weekend of wild allegations from El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa of "extortion" against county sheriffs testifying against gun safety legislation. Saturday, Maketa was so certain that a possible felony had been committed, and threats had been made by the Democratic Senate leadership regarding (nonexistent) legislation to raise county sheriff salaries, that he was "considering" asking for an investigation by Attorney General John Suthers. After Sheriff Maketa made these allegations on Jeff Crank's radio show, they spread like wildfire throughout the conservative blogosphere and social media.

As KRDO reports today, the whole story is coming apart.

Maketa based the claims on an email he received from Chris Olson, the executive director of the County Sheriffs of Colorado. But now Olson tells TARGET 13 that he never felt threatened by anyone at the capitol.

"There were no threats that were ever intended in that email," said Olson, who has said that Maketa is "on his own" with the claims…

Olson would not reveal his "reliable source at the Capitol" to TARGET 13, but said it was not a legislator or staff member of a legislator.

"It was people I work with at the capitol," said Olson. "And it's just a normal course of business down there where you exchange information, so that's all it was."

How does Sheriff Maketa, now backed into a corner by his own "source," have to say about this?

"I was quite taken aback by Chris Olson claiming that, 'Maketa's on his own,'" Maketa said Tuesday.

He said he now has as many concerns about Olson as he does Senate Democrats…

Uh, okay.

Notwithstanding the breathless game of telephone now underway by conservatives to hype this non-story into the next Teapot Dome scandal, which will of course go on regardless of any factual developments, we appear to be just about done here–as is the reputation of El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa.