(D) Kamala Harris
(R) Donald Trump
80%
20%
(D) Diana DeGette*
(R) V. Archuleta
98%
2%
(D) Joe Neguse*
(R) Marshall Dawson
95%
5%
(D) Adam Frisch
(R) Jeff Hurd
50%
50%
(R) Lauren Boebert
(D) Trisha Calvarese
90%
10%
(R) Jeff Crank
(D) River Gassen
80%
20%
(D) Jason Crow*
(R) John Fabbricatore
90%
10%
(D) B. Pettersen
(R) Sergei Matveyuk
90%
10%
(D) Yadira Caraveo
(R) Gabe Evans
70%↑
30%
DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
80%
20%
DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
95%
5%
If you’ve been wondering what Bruce Jenner will look like as a woman…well, the wait is over. Here’s Caitlyn Jenner (and check out this helpful tip sheet from GLAAD). It’s time to Get More Smarter with Colorado Pols. If you think we missed something important, please include the link in the comments below (here’s a good […]
Let’s just repeat Memorial Day weekend once more, eh? It’s time to Get More Smarter with Colorado Pols. If you think we missed something important, please include the link in the comments below (here’s a good example). TOP OF MIND TODAY… ► State Rep. John Buckner (D-Aurora) has died at the age of 67 after […]
When Republican Libby Szabo announced in January that she would resign from the State House in order to fill a vacancy on the Jefferson County Board of Commissioners, she was roundly criticized; the editorial board of the Denver Post said Szabo was “thumbing her nose at voters” by resigning her seat just two months after winning re-election […]
Adams County voters will decide at the ballot box this fall whether or not to expand their County Commission by two seats, creating a five member board in place of the current, three-commissioner composition. The proposal is a response to recent corruption in Adams County, and championed by current commissioners there as creating greater government accountability and responsiveness.
When a similar suggestion came in front of the Jefferson County Board last month, however, Commissioners John Odom, Don Rosier, and Faye Griffin scrambled to come up with any excuse to shoot the proposal down, according to a report from the Denver newspaper.
Viewed through every lens except that of a current officeholder, augmenting the Commission makes sense. Sure, it’s an “expansion of government” as Commissioner John Odom whines, but it’s not an expansion of bureaucracy. People complain about “big government” when they don’t see or can’t find the personal benefit of government services. In a county of 550,000 residents, however, a five-member commission is simply good government: additional elected officials leads to more opportunities for more constituents to have their voices heard.
Odom also notes that it isn’t practical to allow the county to elect two more commissioners in part because of “additional space requirements.” Is that really enough of a reason? Because there aren’t enough offices? Heaven forbid the commissioners share offices, or, even worse, find space in the expansive Taj Mahal to accommodate everybody. The only reasoning more foolish than the office space canard is grumbling that there aren’t enough chairs in the Commission chambers. “We don’t have enough seats,” Odom could say. “We looked into getting some folding chairs, but those aren’t really comfortable and then we would have to decide who gets the padded seats. I guess we could rotate every few months, but it’s frankly not a conversation we want to have.”
Faye Griffin’s remarks were equally absurd, worrying that overworked support staff would have to put even more hours in at the office. It’s funny how Griffin’s complaints are almost diametrically opposed to Odom’s: in a five-member commission, people would have to work harder? Wait, but don’t we want our elected officials and their staff to work hard to earn and steward our tax dollars? Sounds like Odom’s reviled “expansion of government” may just make everybody a little more industrious, if you take his colleague’s word for it.
Don Rosier grouses that having five, district-elected commissioners would build “fiefdoms,” with each commissioner jockeying to benefit his or her own district. That’s right, Rosier believes that having commissioners catering to the specific needs of different communities across geographically and socio-economically diverse Jefferson County would somehow be a bad thing.
So, to review, Jefferson County absolutely should never, ever have five elected county commissioners because:
1) There aren’t enough offices.
2) People would have to work harder.
3) The commissioners would have to work for and respond to those living in their respective districts.
Great reasons.
These sorry excuses, however, belie the true reason guiding the commissioners’ opposition: expanding the board would dilute their personal political power. In Adams County, proponents of board expansion favor additional members because with three, after all, you only need to convince a friend to support you in order to ram public policy through the works.
Having five members, then, would lead to commissioners having to debate, consider, defend, and win votes for their proposals. Which, of course, would limit the commissioners’ ability to have their way with county government.
And why have “personal fiefdoms” when the entire county can be your domain?
Jefferson County Commissioner Don Rosier was last month selected as president of the Front Range District of Colorado Counties, an advocacy group which advises county governments across the Front Range. It’s a plum appointment for the first-term commissioner, who only took office last year after defeating incumbent Commissioner Kathy Hartman in 2010.
From the Jefferson County Board of Commissioners:
Jefferson County Commissioner Donald Rosier has been elected president of the Front Range District of Colorado Counties, Inc. (CCI), a group that represents boards of county commissioners from more than 60 Colorado counties.
The CCI Front Range District includes Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Douglas, El Paso, Jefferson, Larimer, and Weld counties and the City & County of Denver and City & County of Broomfield. It brings together commissioners from those counties who face similar challenges such as increasing urbanization, declining revenues and accelerating demands for services for citizens. By joining together, the commissioners share knowledge and experience, have a bigger voice on legislative matters, and work together on issues that cross county lines.
Rosier, who chairs the Jefferson County Board of County Commissioners, was sworn in as a Jeffco commissioner in 2011, and was named CCI’s Freshman Commissioner of the Year during his first year in office.
CCI is a non-profit, membership association that provides information and education to county officials, and helps counties work together. Rosier was elected to head the Front Range group because of his work with other counties on critical issues such as transportation and economic development.
Rosier also serves on the National Association of Counties (NACo) Community and Economic Development Committee, which develops NACo policies and represents counties across the U.S. before Congress on matters related to community development and redevelopment, housing programs, building and housing codes, subdivision regulations, public works and economic development. Recently he was chosen as one of only 23 leaders in county government from across the U.S. to participate in a national leadership institute developed by NACo and the Cambridge Leadership Associates.
Locally, Rosier represents Jefferson County on several boards including the Denver Regional Council of Governments, the Jefferson Economic Development Corporation and the Jefferson Parkway Public Highway Authority.
Rosier has quickly become the face of the Board, leading the controversial charge to complete the Denver-metropolitan beltway while still finding time to scare little kids.
He’s risen to the top of county government, however, less because of any inherent ambition or talent and more because of the power vacuum left in the wake of the Kings’ of Corruption abdications. Commissioners Jim Congrove and Kevin McCasky were so masterfully able to define — and desecrate — the Board of Commissioners because, working in tandem, they could ramrod through their policies with no questions asked. You could call it leadership, even if it was unquestionably corrupt — and occasionally bizarre.
Indeed, Rosier’s political profile has stumbled into the spotlight in part because the current Board isn’t really composed of strong personalities. Commissioner Faye Griffin, while popular, lacks the legislative chops to be anything more than a yes-woman. After decades in county government, she’s proven to be a better bureaucrat than policymaker. And while Commissioner John Odom has made some of the same mistakes as his predecessors, he’s too green — commissioner is too big for the guy who’s never successfully been elected to public office before.
And so Rosier, rocking facial hair which would make Colonel Sanders shudder, has alone been able to wield power in Jeffco. The Rosier era is doubtless an improvement over the reign of McCasky, Congrove, & company: there’s been no major corruption scandals, yet.
Still, you’ve got to wonder: is this the best we can do? Should one man really set the direction of the county as a whole? And what has Rosier accomplished, anyway?
The Taj Mahal is no longer a font of shame and outrage for Jefferson County residents. But the county government isn’t really anything to be proud of, either.
Don Rosier, then, is the rebound girlfriend of local politics: necessary to move on from past mistakes, but ultimately forgettable in the long run.
Despite the fact that former Jefferson County Commissioner Jim Congrove passed away earlier this year, his ethically questionable decisions and attendant legal missteps will continue to cost the county taxpayer dollars, as ordered by a recent decision of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Congrove, remember, was taken to court in 2005 by blogger Mike Zinna. In that lawsuit, Zinna alleged a gross violation of his First Amendment rights after the commissioner used county funds to hire a private investigator to tail the county critic. A jury eventually agreed with Zinna’s claims, awarding him a symbolic $1,791 in damages. U.S. District Judge Richard Matsch then ruled that the gadfly was entitled to $8,000 in reimbursement for lawyer’s fees.
As it turns out, the county’s tab for that particular lawsuit may run up even higher.
From the Denver Business Journal:
A federal appeals court says the amount of attorneys’ fees awarded to a blogger critical of Jefferson County government isn’t enough and is sending the case back to the lower court to increase that amount, The Denver Post reports.
It’s unlikely that Zinna will receive the $500,000 he’s requesting, but there’s no question that the county will be forced to spend more public money to finally end this particular legal skirmish. No matter how much the lower court decides Zinna deserves — and it’ll be considerably more than $8,000 — it will only add to the half a million dollars the county has already spent litigating this case.
While it’s ridiculous that taxpayers are continuing to foot the bill for the incredibly stupid decisions made by their erstwhile elected officials, it’s merely symptomatic of a larger problem with Jefferson County government. Congrove may be dead and buried, but his tenure as a commissioner is still hurting Jefferson County. Likewise, former Commissioner Kevin McCasky’s recent ethical violations continue to paint Jefferson County as a cesspool of corruption.
Bottom line, Jim Congrove was most certainly not the “good steward of taxpayer funds” that the legislature retroactively defined him as. In fact, just the opposite: Congrove and his cohorts left such an indellible black mark on Jeffco that it has taken — and will continue to take — years for the county to move beyond their years on the Commission.
Unfortunately, while the current Board of Commissioners hasn’t been mired in scandal (yet), history has a nasty habit of repeating itself in Jeffco.
Last week, State Senator Evie Hudak co-sponsored a resolution honoring former State Senator (and Jefferson County Commissioner) Jim Congrove on the floor of the Senate. Congrove, who opted not to run for re-election in 2008 after becoming embroiled in several corruption scandals, died earlier this year.
From the Colorado Senate Majority:
DENVER─ Today, the Senate honored former Republican Senator Jim Congrove in a bipartisan memorial resolution sponsored by Senator Evie Hudak (D-Westminster). Senator Congrove was a Vietnam War veteran and former undercover narcotics officer. He was elected to the Colorado House of Representatives in 1994 and to the Colorado State Senate in 1996. Senator Congrove also served as a Jefferson County Commissioner from 2005-2009. He passed away on January 10.
Below is the full text of Senator Congrove’s Senate memorial:
WHEREAS, Our respected former colleague, Jim Congrove, a past member of the Colorado Senate and House of Representatives, departed this life on January 10, 2012, at the age of 65, in Arvada; and
WHEREAS, Senator Congrove was born on May 5, 1946; and
WHEREAS, Senator Congrove graduated from Boys Town in Nebraska, where he was named head commissioner in the cottage where he resided; and
WHEREAS, After serving in the Vietnam War, Senator Congrove returned to Colorado and enrolled in Adams State College; and
WHEREAS, Senator Congrove served first in the Colorado House of Representatives from 1994 to 1996, during which time he served on the House Finance and State Veterans and Military Affairs committees; and
WHEREAS, From 1996 to 2000, Senator Congrove served in the Colorado Senate, where he was a member of several committees, including the Health Environment Welfare and Institutions, Local Government, and State Veterans and Military Affairs committees; and
WHEREAS, While serving in the Colorado General Assembly, Senator Congrove, who was a former undercover narcotics officer, sponsored a bill that further restricted no-knock warrants; and
WHEREAS, While serving in the Senate, Senator Congrove also sponsored a bill granting disabled veterans free entrance to parks, legislation affecting the governance of charter schools, and legislation updating the certification system of the Peace Officers Standards and Training Board; and
WHEREAS, Senator Congrove’s public service did not end with his tenure in the General Assembly; in 2004, he was elected as Jefferson County Commissioner for District 1; and
WHEREAS, Senator Congrove said that the primary job of a county commissioner was to be a good steward of the taxpayers’ dollars and support property rights, government accountability, and limited taxation; and
WHEREAS, As a pilot himself, Senator Congrove had a particular interest in improving the Jefferson County Airport, which he called “the absolute crown jewel of Jefferson County”, and he was instrumental in changing its name to the Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport; and
WHEREAS, In addition to his involvement with public service, Senator Congrove cherished his family and loved spending time with them, especially his two daughters and three grandchildren; now, therefore,
Be It Resolved by the Senate of the Sixty-eighth General Assembly of the State of Colorado, the House of Representatives concurring herein:
That, in the death of Jim Congrove, the people of the state of Colorado have lost a dedicated public servant and outstanding citizen, and that we, the members of the Colorado General Assembly, do hereby extend our deep and heartfelt sympathy to the members of his family and pay tribute to a man who served his state well and faithfully.
Be It Further Resolved, That copies of this Joint Memorial be sent to Senator Congrove’s wife, Judy Congrove; his two daughters, Jennifer Fawcett and Jamie Lombardi; and his sister, Marie Hebdon.
We’re sure that this resolution means a lot to Congrove’s grieving family. That said, however, Congrove’s reputation as a crook most certainly overshadows the positive contributions he did make to public service.
After all, this is the same Jim Congrove who was a card-carrying member of the Jeffco “Kings of Corruption,” alongside former Commissioner Kevin McCasky and former Treasurer Mark Paschall. This is the same Jim Congrove who was accused of using public funds to spy on county employees, county critics, private citizens, and even other elected officials; who cost Jeffco taxpayers thousands of dollars in legal fees; who was accused of lying to investigators about his role in the mysterious disappearance of legal files. The list goes on and on.
What was Senator Hudak thinking? We understand the mentality behind memorializing recently-deceased politicians, but usually, those politicians left behind a legacy worth honoring. Jim Congrove’s repeated ethical missteps as a county commissioner should have totally precluded the passage — or even the introduction — of this resolution.
Put simply, you can’t whitewash over Congrove’s ethical missteps just because he passed away.
Congrove might have believed that his job as a county commissioner was to “be a good steward of the taxpayers’ dollars” and to champion government accountability. The problem is the gigantic chasm between what Congrove said and what he did. It’s absurd to celebrate his words while ignoring his actions.
Evie Hudak and the General Assembly could pass hundreds of gushing resolutions honoring Jim Congrove, but they won’t make his tainted legacy go away. You can’t forgive the unforgivable.
After all, people will remember Jim Congrove not for the kind words spoken about him in the halls of government but instead for the gallons of newspaper ink directly tying him to scandal.
Disgraced former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich will no longer be calling the Land of Lincoln “home.” Instead, he’ll be settling down right here in Jefferson County, Colorado. Not by choice, of course! From 9News: LITTLETON, Colo. (AP) – Convicted former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich entered a federal prison in Colorado on Thursday to begin a […]
Disgraced former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich will no longer be calling the Land of Lincoln “home.” Instead, he’ll be settling down right here in Jefferson County, Colorado. Not by choice, of course!
From 9News:
LITTLETON, Colo. (AP) – Convicted former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich entered a federal prison in Colorado on Thursday to begin a 14-year sentence for corruption, the latest chapter in the downfall of a charismatic politician that seemed more like a bizarre reality TV show than a legal battle.
Followed by helicopters and television news crews broadcasting his every move, the 55-year-old Democrat pulled up in a black SUV at the Federal Correctional Institution Englewood in suburban Denver just before 1 p.m. after stopping for lunch and taking a break to make a cellphone call.
“I think it’s kind of surreal to him, but he seems in good spirits,” said Brian Pyle, who owns the Freddy’s Frozen Custard and Steakburgers in Littleton where Blogojevich had lunch with three other people…
Blagojevich sounded an optimistic and even defiant note, as he has done repeatedly before and after he was convicted on several corruption charges that included attempting to sell or trade an appointment to President Barack Obama’s vacated Senate seat.
“I’m leaving with a heavy heart, a clear conscience and I have high, high hopes for the future,” said Blagojevich, wearing a dark shirt, sport coat and blue jeans.
Next time you’re driving down Kipling, just south of Hampden, you might just be lucky enough to catch Blago wistfully combing his perfectly-coiffed hair behind a barred window.
And hey, maybe Kevin McCasky will drop in during visitation hours to get some advice on how he too can turn his ethical problems into a primetime spot on The Apprentice.
Jefferson County Democrats have been struggling to field candidates in the two countywide commissioner races this cycle.
Commissioner Faye Griffin is vying for a second term in 2012, and Commissioner John Odom, who filled the vacancy created after Kevin McCasky’s controversial move to the Jefferson County Economic Council, is seeking a full term. No Democrats had announced to take on either Griffin or Odom until attorney Casey Tighe filed papers late last month for Odom’s District 2 seat.
From the Columbine Courier:
Democrat Casey Tighe has the lofty goal of unseating Jeffco Commissioner John Odom in November, and the Colorado Department of Transportation audit director is ending his 24-year career to focus completely on his campaign.
Tighe, a longtime Golden resident who filed his candidate affidavit on Jan. 27, said he does not foresee a highly charged, partisan race for the District 2 seat, which in recent years has been dominated by Republicans.
A Republican vacancy committee appointed Odom to fill the seat vacated by former commissioner Kevin McCasky a year ago, when McCasky accepted a job as head of the Jefferson County Economic Development Corp.
“I don’t know that this will be a real partisan race,” Tighe said. “You’re looking for someone who will run an effective government.”
The last Democrat to fill an elected office in Jefferson County was former commissioner Kathy Hartman, who in 2010 was defeated by District 3 Commissioner Don Rosier, a Republican. Hartman was also the first Democrat elected to the seat in 14 years when she won the office in 2006.
But despite the local electorate’s historically conservative leanings, Tighe, 52, said his auditing expertise will make him a competitive candidate.
“I can provide a fresh set of eyes and perspective as a county commissioner,” said Tighe, who was serving on the county audit committee last year when the current Board of Commissioners dissolved it. “I try to make my decisions based on the facts … and not purely on ideology. There’s a lot of talk right now about cutting government … but you need to make the right decisions about where can you cut and where you focus the government’s efforts.”
Further, county residents are interested in a business-friendly atmosphere, he said, an insight that does not appear lost on the current board.
“I know Jefferson County. I know what the people are looking for. … People are interested in business development. They want to see businesses grow,” Tighe said, adding that county services should be streamlined and helpful. “The government should be elegant in that the customer has a positive experience. … It should be an efficient process. You shouldn’t have to go back again to get service.”
That political newcomer Tighe is the only Democratic candidate set to take on Odom in District 2 shows just how intimidating the commissioner’s races are for Democrats. Odom, who lost his first ever political bid against Cheri Jahn for the SD-20 seat in 2010, is arguably much more vulnerable in his re-election bid than Griffin – he lost his last campaign for a much smaller office and never before has been on the ballot countywide. Even with that inherent vulnerability, however, no big-name Democrats were willing to challenge him for the District 2 seat, leaving the race open to the relatively unknown Tighe.
Can Tighe win? He’s got an interesting pedigree, at the very least. The longtime CDOT audit director also served as the chairman of the Jefferson County Audit Committee, qualifications which will enable Tighe to campaign on government transparency and accountability. Those talking points may resonate in light of Jeffco’s own “Bridge to Nowhere” scandal if Tighe can make the case that he’s better qualified than Odom to root out county corruption.
With no contribution limits in county races, however, Tighe’s talking points won’t be relevant unless he can raise enough to televise them. Tighe may have some contacts with the Colorado Trial Lawyer’s Association, but he doesn’t have a record as an elected official. Without it or any other indicator of previous success, Tighe will struggle with convincing donors that he can win the election against Odom. There’s just no way that Tighe’s fundraising list, as a political newcomer, will be long enough to really give incumbent Odom a run for his money.
The commissioner’s race is an important challenge for Democrats – a strong presence at the countywide level will boost turnout for State House and Senate Candidates, especially given that there are no statewide offices up this year with the exception of CU regent at-large.
Tighe may prove a worthy adversary for Odom, but the numbers aren’t on his side. There are more residents in Jefferson County than in the entire state of Wyoming, and unless Democratic challengers can raise the kind of money characteristic of a congressional race, incumbent Republicans will continue to dominate county level politics. Without previous elected service and with a low name-ID, it’s unlikely that Tighe will be able to pull in enough cash to be viable.
Still no word on who, if anybody, will take on Faye Griffin.
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