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Paging Ted Stevens: Jeffco’s Bridge to Nowhere

Posted on November 11, 2011November 11, 2011 by Colorado Pols

We highly recommend you check out 9News’ Kyle Clark’s two pieces on Jeffco’s “Bridge to Nowhere” for examples of truly great investigative reporting.

Clark centers his story on the pedestrian bridge located at Wadsworth Boulevard and Bowles Avenue in South Jeffco, which links Southwest Plaza and Bowles Crossing shopping centers. We’ve seen that bridge before, but we’ve never seen anybody actually use it. Neither mall is really vibrant, and we have a creeping suspicion that the bridge will remain standing much longer than the shipping centers it links.

The most bizarre aspect of this story, though, is that Jefferson County can’t even justify the $3 million they spent on the bridge. At least, they can’t justify it privately.

From 9News:

As Jefferson County publicly defended a $3 million pedestrian bridge at Wadsworth Boulevard and Bowles Avenue as a “lasting asset,” the county’s engineer on the project privately acknowledged it was expensive and unnecessary, 9Wants to Know has learned.

Internal emails obtained by 9Wants to Know using Colorado Open Records Act show county officials struggling to justify the pedestrian bridge, completed in the spring of 2011 using a combination of federal and local tax dollars.

The bridge spanning Wadsworth just north of Bowles, connects two aging shopping malls, Southwest Plaza and Bowles Crossing. Some citizens, including resident Gary Michelson, have dubbed it: “The Bridge To, And From, Nowhere.”

When Michelson wrote to county leaders calling the bridge a “terrible waste of funds,” he received a stock answer from project engineer Brad Bauer that was similar to the two-page defense of the project sent to other concerned citizens. In one such response, Bauer writes the bridge will be a “lasting asset” that will “significantly improve the pedestrian safety at the intersection.”

That is not what the county’s point-man on the project was saying behind the scenes.

After an email exchange with Michelson, Bauer emailed his supervisor on June 22 saying he was “having a hard time coming up with any good response,” adding that he could agree with Michelson’s points about “the bridge being an expensive unnecessary expense.”

Just to make it clear: the liaison for the project is unable to respond to constituent complaints about the bridge, because he agrees with them.

Clark interviews Kevin French, with Jeffco’s Transportation and Engineering Department, and French is about as eloquent as Rick Perry in his most recent debate performance. You really have to watch the interview to get the full effect, but French doesn’t really answer any of Clark’s questions. When asked how French’s department can justify, well, their justification of the bridge to concerned taxpayers, French responds “it’s the best we have.” That’s the answer he finally comes to, at least, after first responding that he “wasn’t sure he had a good answer to that.” If you’re a big fan of deer caught in headlights, it’s a must watch.

This is one of the most asinine government decisions we’ve ever seen, and that’s saying something for Jefferson County. $3 million for a bridge? The August 2009 resolution which Clark discusses is even worse: then Commissioners Kevin McCasky and Kathy Hartman voted for it, as did current Commissioner Faye Griffin. They approved an “expenditure of an amount not to exceed $376,600.00 to Muller Engineering Company, Inc. for final design, and additional services as needed.”

Nearly $400,000 for the “final design,” huh? 400 grand for a couple of drawings of a bridge? We assume the “additional services as needed” are in case Muller Engineering ran out of graph paper or erasers.

This is an important story for champions of good, transparent government, of course. But it also carries with it political implications. The folks in south Jeffco – those who see this bridge during their daily commutes – historically support the election of Republicans to the Board of Commissioners. But this same bridge, this “monument of government waste,” was approved with the votes of Republicans Kevin McCasky and Faye Griffin. If the vote on this bridge was before 2008’s election, we’re not sure if McCasky could’ve recovered.

Shocker: Jeffco Commissioners Oppose Prop 103

Posted on October 31, 2011October 31, 2011 by Colorado Pols

The Jefferson County Board of Commissioners is as predictable as it is timely:

Commissioner Odom moved that the following Resolution be adopted:

BEFORE THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

OF THE COUNTY OF JEFFERSON

STATE OF COLORADO

RESOLUTION NO. CC11-401

RE: BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS – RESOLUTION IN OPPOSITION TO PROPOSITION 103

WHEREAS, Proposition 103 would raise the state income tax level from 4.63 percent to 5 percent and the state sales and use tax from 2.9 to 3 percent for five years, and

WHEREAS, Proposition 103 requires the state legislature to spend the increased revenue, estimated at approximately $2.9 billion over five years, on education, and

WHEREAS, Jefferson County is dedicated to promoting economic development and economic opportunity for its residents and businesses, and

WHEREAS, Jefferson County attends to the needs of individuals in need, and

WHEREAS, the tax increase comes at a time when even modest hikes could damage many businesses and individuals whose financial situation is precarious,

WHEREAS, the Campaign Reform Act, Section 1-45-117(1)(b)(III)(A) C.R.S., allows the Board to pass a resolution and to take a position of advocacy on any issue.

NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Board of County Commissioners of Jefferson County opposes Proposition 103 and urges the electors to vote against it to protect businesses and individuals during these difficult economic times.

Commissioner Rosier seconded the adoption of the foregoing Resolution. The roll having been called, the vote was as follows:

Commissioner John Odom Aye

Commissioner Donald Rosier Aye

Commissioner Faye Griffin, Chairman Aye

The Resolution was adopted by unanimous vote of the Board of County Commissioners of the County of Jefferson, State of Colorado.

Does this really come as a surprise to anyone? Of course Commissioners Odom, Rosier, and Griffin would oppose Prop 103. The thing is, though, when you do the thing that everybody expects you to do, it isn’t really newsworthy. In that way, Commissioner Odom’s resolution may have the inverse impact of its intent: nobody in the county thought that Odom and company would support 103, but by explicitly coming out against the ballot measure, the Board may make more enemies than they placate friends.

In passing this resolution, the Board has directly come out against increased funding for education. That’s gonna make all three a target for education activists in Jeffco, and that’s going to make for some uncomfortable canvassing at teachers’ doorsteps when all three run for re-election. Or, for that matter, parents’ doorsteps.

The Jefferson County Board of Commissioners isn’t tasked with deciding education policy. In fact, when you step into education policy at all, you run the risk of alienating at least one segment of your constituency. That begs the question, then: why meddle in something so contentious when it neither concerns you nor has that much intrinsic political benefit?

Scott Tipton Getting Nervous?

Posted on October 29, 2011 by Colorado Pols

As reported by Andy Birkey of the Minnesota Independent yesterday: Reps. Chip Cravaack, Michele Bachmann and John Kline lent their names to a brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday arguing that the Supreme Court should rule the Affordable Care Act (ACA) unconstitutional. The brief was filed by the American Center for Law […]

New GOP School Board Strategy: Vote for the Dads?

Posted on October 12, 2011October 12, 2011 by Colorado Pols

A few readers have e-mailed us this image of the yard sign for Jeffco School Board Candidates Preston Branaugh and Jim Powers.

We’ve been keeping a running catalogue of the best and worst yard signs over at Colorado Pols, but we think the sign for the GOP’s dynamic duo in the school board race warrants special comment.

We wouldn’t say it’s a bad sign. It doesn’t look great, but it tells you who’s running and for what. Jeffco School Board is noted big enough there at the bottom, and there isn’t a ton of wasted space. Both names are on the sign as much as you can fit “Preston Branaugh” anywhere, and while we think they could’ve made this sign look a lot better by not including first names, it kind of works for the whole XY chromosomes thing going on here.

That brings us to the “Vote for the Dads” part of the sign. Those who have e-mailed us have mentioned that they thought it both sexist and a clear indicator that both candidates are backed by the same group of people. We’re not sure if that matters. The GOP has made it no secret that they’re running Branaugh and Powers as a slate of sorts. They have no reason to hide that fact; the whole strategy behind pushing these candidates as Republicans is the hope that Republicans across JeffCo will realize that, even though it’s a “nonpartisan” race, there are still two good ol’ boys you can vote for.

The slogan-of-sorts at the top there actually strikes us as kind of clever. It’s hard to communicate to voters that they can vote for two separate candidates in this race. Sue Windels, in her 2008 run for commissioner, was always fond of saying “you can vote for one boy and one girl” during her campaign against Faye Griffin and Jason Bane’s campaign against Kevin McCasky. Saying “Vote for the Dads” is a quick and easy way to remind people who only glimpse at the sign to vote for both male names on the ballot. If we were Branaugh or Powers, we’d be using that talking point in every speech and in every elevator, so to speak. It’s pithy. It’s memorable.

Still, we think it’s disingenuous for Jim Powers to be calling himself a “dad” in the context of Jefferson County Schools. Sure, he’s a dad by way of his skills as a progenitor, but his kids aren’t even in Jefferson County Public Schools. Powers has “made the personal decision to home school his children,” according to campaign literature, so he’s certainly not a dad in the PTA sense.

Contrary to the image “PTA meeting” conjures, there are quite a few dads who are heavily involved with their schools and the education of their children in Jefferson County. Jim Powers isn’t one of them; he’s running to make education decisions that wouldn’t even affect his own children. We get that being a “dad” may earn Powers some votes, but the only PTA meeting that he’s ever had to attend and the only bake sale he’s had to supervise have been in the comfort of his own home.

We don’t have anything against homeschooling: that’s a personal decision incumbent upon a child’s parents. We do, however, take issue with Powers calling himself a “dad” in the public education sense. That’s a title you can only earn after getting leg cramps from trying to fit in those tiny desks at parent night. He’s a father of children, but he’s not a father of children in Jefferson County Public Schools.

“Tipton’s Got To Go”

Posted on August 12, 2011August 12, 2011 by Colorado Pols

House Majority PAC is up with a fresh TV spot attacking vulnerable Colorado freshman Rep. Scott Tipton—Politico: House Majority PAC, a so-called Super PAC that can take unlimited contributions, has made a six-figure ad buy across three far-flung House districts. The group is targeting freshmen Republican Reps. Scott Tipton of Colorado, Tim Griffin of Arkansas […]

McCasky Lobbied Jeffco to Give More Money to His New Boss

Posted on February 17, 2011 by Colorado Pols

Former Jefferson County Commissioner Kevin McCasky was never one to worry much about ethics, and as The Columbine Courier reports, he made sure to help out his new job as head of the Jefferson Economic Council before resigning from the Board of Commmissioners:

Jeffco Commissioner Kevin McCasky proposed an increase of $20,000 in the county’s contribution to the Jefferson Economic Council last year while he was a candidate for the private economic development organization’s top job, the Columbine Courier has learned.

McCasky’s application for the high-paying JEC position was under consideration in November when the county’s 2011 budget was revised to increase JEC funding from $380,000 to $400,000 – as McCasky urged his fellow commissioners to boost Jeffco’s contribution while the county itself was facing significant budget cuts.

McCasky, who was named in January to succeed Preston Gibson after Gibson resigned as JEC president last year, says he sees no conflict of interest in his actions. The commissioner, leaving office this week to begin his job at the JEC, says funding the economic council has been a consistent practice in each year of his tenure as a commissioner.

“It is clearly a conflict of interest when a person in government rolls a vote on a budget for an organization for (which) he is seeking employment,” said Colorado Common Cause executive director Jenny Flanagan. Despite any history of previous advocacy for the organization’s budget, an interest in employment with the organization is problematic, she said.

“That’s all fine up until he participates in the application for employment,” Flanagan said…

… The JEC – which typically receives the majority of its funding from Jeffco’s general fund and gets more than twice as many dollars from Jeffco as any other organization – submits a proposed budget annually to the county. The proposed budget for 2011 was $380,000.

Former county commissioner Kathy Hartman, who was defeated by Don Rosier in the November election, said the JEC approached the commissioners about a funding increase but confirmed that McCasky actively lobbied her and Commissioner Faye Griffin for the boost.

Loan? What Loan? Don’t Worry About It

Posted on February 2, 2011February 2, 2011 by Colorado Pols

Troubling story last week from The High Timber Times:

Jefferson County on Tuesday granted a decade-long grace period on a loan of more than $6.4 million to an undeveloped metropolitan district for construction of the C-470 and Alameda interchange.

Green Tree Metropolitan District, which is governed by at least one developer who has contributed substantially to Jeffco Republican campaigns, borrowed the money in 2007 from the county to help construct the $17 million interchange.

Under the loan’s original terms in an intergovernmental agreement, Green Tree was to begin repayment at the end of 2011 with an installment of more than $2 million. The remaining principal and interest were to be repaid at the end of 2013.

But the district cites the economy for a lack of development that would allow it to begin repaying the debt.

“Our agreement anticipated development that would allow for repayment starting late this year. With current conditions we are many years away from any development necessary to begin to repay the cost of this interchange,” Green Tree board member John Mullins wrote in an e-mail to Jefferson County. “We are suggesting 2021 as a better date.”

Did campaign contributions help grease the wheels for this loan forgiveness? Reporter Emile Hallez Williams thought it worth questioning:

McCasky, who has received at least $9,000 in campaign contributions from three members of Green Tree’s board, said the donations played no factor in his decision to approve the loan.

And despite the fact that McCasky received $3,500 from the board members less than two months before the agreement was approved, he said he had no idea who sat on the district’s board.

“This isn’t about Green Tree…I don’t even know who Green Tree is. They’re just the metropolitan district managing the property,” McCasky said. “It’s immaterial who the board members are.” [Jeffco Pols emphasis]

On Aug. 7, 2007, McCasky received $500 from John Mullins, $500 from Bill Jenkins and $2,500 from Greg Stevinson – all Green Tree board members. The original intergovernmental agreement was approved on Oct. 2, 2007.

Additionally, Commissioner Faye Griffin has received $9,000 to date from Stevinson in her runs for county treasurer and commissioner, though she was not in her current office when the agreement was drafted. She also received $250 from Mullins and $250 from Jenkins in 2008.

The idea that former County Commissioner Kevin McCasky, who recently resigned to head up the Jefferson Economic Council, has no idea who is involved with Green Tree is laughable at best. Williams notes $3,500 in campaign contributions that occurred prior to the 2007 vote, but over the years McCasky has received much more — tens of thousands of dollars, in fact — in campaign contributions from people affiliated with Green Tree.

Commissioners Want to Limit Bicycle Access

Posted on July 23, 2009 by Colorado Pols

Apparently not content until they alienate every interest group outside of developers, Jefferson County Commissioners are seeking to restrict bicycle traffic. As The Columbine Courier reports:

Amid the controversy over a proposed charity bicycle event on Deer Creek Canyon Road, the Jeffco commissioners will propose state legislation that would give them more authority to bar cyclists from some county roads altogether.

Conflict between motorists and cyclists is nothing new on the canyon roads west of South Jeffco in the foothills. But a recent battle over using a portion of Deer Creek Canyon Road for a September fund-raising event has spurred the commissioners to seek broader authority in making some roads off limits to cyclists. The county attorney’s office will draft the legislation soon, and the county will try to get a legislator to sponsor it in the 2010 legislative session.

“This morning the board recognized that we have severe issues in Deer Creek Canyon and in other areas,” Commissioner Kevin McCasky said June 30 at a hearing on whether the September cycling event would receive a special-use permit.

McCasky was the only commissioner who voted to approve the event, saying that denying the event was penalizing it “for the sins” of earlier cyclist-motorist squabbles. He said that the county would seek powers to “regulate authority over the behavior of cyclists and motorists (on county roadways) all year.”

Commissioner Faye Griffin said after the hearing that the plan is in the idea stage, and nothing formal has occurred. But the debate over cycling on some roads showed the commissioners that they need more power, she said.

“We need to look at (laws) that make certain roads in the county (unusable) by bike traffic,” Griffin said. “We’re saying to our lobbyist to look at the possibility of having some discretion on what roads can have bike traffic and which cannot. Right now there’s clearness for cities, but we can’t find that the county can say that.”

County Attorney Ellen Wakeman said state law gives cities and incorporated towns authority to regulate cycling on roads, but the law is unclear when it comes to counties. Legislation her office will craft in the coming weeks would add counties to the list of governments that can regulate cyclists and their road use.

Term Limit Extension Causes Internal Controversy

Posted on June 22, 2009June 22, 2009 by Colorado Pols

UPDATE: A measure will be on the ballot this November to extend term limits for all elected officials EXCEPT for county commissioners.

A ballot measure to extend term limits for Jeffco elected officials (except county commissioners) may be headed for the ballot — but not without controversy. As The Columbine Courier reports:

An effort by Jeffco District Attorney Scott Storey to extend term limits for his office might be over before the question even goes to voters.

Storey, who began his second term in January, has been trying to get support to extend limits for his and the sheriff’s office to three terms, or 12 consecutive years. Current law allows for two consecutive terms, or eight years, for all Jefferson County elected officials.

Storey needs voters’ approval to extend term limits, and he could either get on the November ballot by petition, or the question could be placed on the ballot with a majority vote by the county commissioners.

But Commissioner Kevin McCasky is blocking Storey from getting on the commissioners’ agenda to ask for a formal vote on the issue, as long as the ballot question pertains only to the district attorney and the sheriff.

“I sit here a frustrated and confused elected official,” Storey said at a meeting of the county’s elected officials May 14. He detailed his efforts to reach out to all three commissioners to discuss his proposal, and presented a May 10 e-mail he sent to the commissioners formally asking to be on an upcoming agenda for an up or down vote. He said he never got a response from the commissioners.

“I get the message that Commissioner McCasky refuses to allow the district attorney or the sheriff to be on that agenda,” Storey said. “I’m obviously a little confused and frustrated by that.”

“The feedback that I’m getting is that the only person who wants to be on the ballot is you,” McCasky said to Storey. “I believe this is a matter of general governance. Any ballot question is going to include every (elected official).”

McCasky said that although he is the commission’s chairman and has “great deference” in setting the agenda, the board rules by majority, implying that a majority of the commissioners didn’t want Storey on the agenda.

Storey asked Commissioner Faye Griffin if she voted to keep him off the agenda.

“I did not understand what was going on,” Griffin said. “I have no problem putting that on the agenda.”

Why the animosity between McCasky and Storey? Because McCasky hasn’t been shy about his desire to try to extend his own term limits, since he officially ends his second term in 2012 and doesn’t have a higher-profile race that he could successfully run for after that. McCasky is desperate, and if they approve term limit extensions for other elected officials, he can’t very well come back to the voters later to ask for commissioners, too.

At the May 14 meeting, McCasky told Storey that extending term limits is a question bigger than any individual.

“This isn’t about you, and it isn’t about (Sheriff) Ted Mink,” McCasky said. “We all ran knowing we had term limits. If term limit extension is appropriate for one elected official, it’s appropriate for all.”…

…After the meeting, McCasky said voters should be able to decide about extending term limits in “one fell swoop” for all elected officials, and that he’s not backing down from his position. He said he’d support a ballot question that has three questions on extending term limits: one for the district attorney, one for the commissioners, and one for the rest of the elected officials. As of right now, many of the elected officials don’t want their offices listed on a ballot question to extend term limits, McCasky said.

Colorado voters established term limits for all local elected offices by approving Amendment 17 in 1994. Since then, 53 counties have successfully removed or extended term limits for one or more offices, according to Colorado Counties Inc., a lobbying group. All term limits remain in place for Jeffco officials.

Still Waiting on a County Treasurer

Posted on December 10, 2008 by Colorado Pols

The Columbine Courier reported that the County Commissioners haven’t yet decided on who to appoint as County Treasurer, but the decision could make a big impact on the 2010 election:

Griffin would prefer that Pat Weber, her chief deputy and a woman with many years experience in the treasurer’s office, take over for her.

“It would be least disruptive for my office if Pat could be appointed,” Griffin said. Weber said that the decision will be “up to the commissioners,” and that her interest in the job “depends.” She wouldn’t elaborate.

McCasky said the commissioners will gather resumes with cover letters through the end of the year, and hopefully an appointment can be made by the end of the day Jan. 13, 2009, the same day Griffin is sworn in as District 1 commissioner. He said he’s received one application personally, but is not sure if others have been submitted to the commissioners’ office. Hartman said she hadn’t received any applications.

The commissioners will appoint a treasurer that will serve through the end of Griffin’s elected term, which ends in 2010. The position will be on the ballot for Jeffco voters in the fall 2009 election.

Want to be treasurer?

If you DO want to be treasurer, you might hope that Pat Weber gets the position, since she would be unlikely to run for re-election in two years. If that is the case, then County Treasurer would be an open seat in 2010.

Search Results for: griffin

Paging Ted Stevens: Jeffco’s Bridge to Nowhere

Shocker: Jeffco Commissioners Oppose Prop 103

Scott Tipton Getting Nervous?

New GOP School Board Strategy: Vote for the Dads?

“Tipton’s Got To Go”

McCasky Lobbied Jeffco to Give More Money to His New Boss

Loan? What Loan? Don’t Worry About It

Commissioners Want to Limit Bicycle Access

Term Limit Extension Causes Internal Controversy

Still Waiting on a County Treasurer

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