“There is no question in my mind that Sheriff Darr should resign,” said Luis Toro, director of Ethics Watch in a release Monday. “Any person who uses their office to retaliate for political expression… no longer deserves the office nor the trust of the people who put him in office. This is corruption at its most obvious, and Sheriff Darr should resign his office immediately.”

The details uncovered in the trial are damning.

Darr managed to defeat Deputy Mark Nicastle in November but, in the years between the time Nicastle announced his intention to run for sheriff and Election Day last November, Darr launched two internal investigations against Nicastle and demoted him from lieutenant to sergeant.

The nine-member jury voted unanimously that Darr violated Nicastle’s First Amendment rights and awarded Nicastle $24,600 in back pay and $99,000 in damages for pain and suffering.

Toro said Darr’s resignation would be the best way to restore public trust in Adams County government.
 
Darr did not return messages for comment.

“I’ll put you through to his office,” said an Adams County deputy, “but I doubt anyone there will talk to you about this.”

Got a tip? Story pitch? Send us an e-mail. Follow The Colorado Independent on Twitter.

Read Romanoff’s full speech after the jump.

Over the last two weeks, I received hundreds of phone calls and emails, encouraging me to run for governor of Colorado. To those who took the time to write or call, let me say that I am
deeply grateful for your support.

To be clear, though, this election is not about my job; it’s about yours. It’s about the 100,000 Coloradans who lost their jobs last year. Nearly 350,000 Coloradans – that’s one out of every eight working-age adults – are unemployed or stuck in part-time jobs or have given up looking
for work altogether.

We need a strong governor to continue putting Colorado back to work. John Hickenlooper’s experience in the public and private sectors makes him well qualified for that job. I’ve had the privilege to work closely with Mayor Hickenlooper for the last seven years. I admire his creativity and his leadership. I support his candidacy, and I look forward to campaigning with him this fall. It’s not only Coloradans who are suffering, of course. In every state in the union, families are losing their paychecks, their coverage, and their savings.

The problems that afflict America today are too broad and too deep for a state to solve on its own. We find ourselves at a tipping point. Our economy, our health, and, in many ways, the fate of the earth itself hang in the balance.

Yesterday we honored the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “The ultimate measure of a man,” Dr. King once said, “is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

This is a time of challenge and controversy. We need bold leadership not only in the White House but also at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue.

That’s why I’m running for the U.S. Senate.

In recent months, we’ve seen what happens in the absence of leadership. We’ve seen what happens when senators cut special deals for Nebraska or Louisiana or Florida. What we haven’t seen – and what we desperately need – is at least one member of the U.S. Senate who will stand up for the United States of America. One senator who will say no to backroom deals.

One senator who will take on Washington’s political class by turning down the corporate cash that corrupts it.

Fortunately, Coloradans have a choice this year. I say “fortunately” because some folks have forgotten what democracy is all about. Too many elections are foregone conclusions, contests in name only, or auctions in which public offices are sold to the highest bidder. The politicians who prevail pose little threat to the status quo; their victories are bought and paid for by an incumbent-protection racket that regards voters as expendable. We have flipped our political system on its head by cutting citizens out of the electoral process before the polls even open.

How do we reclaim our democracy? We restore the power of people. We lead by example.

We are building a broad, grassroots campaign, fueled by and focused on the people of Colorado. I’m proud to have enlisted more than 5,000 supporters, covering every county in the state.

Today I am asking every Coloradan to join us. Sign on at www.andrewromanoff.com. Together, we’ll prove that genuine change comes not from trolling for dollars on Wall Street but from talking to people on Main Street.

That’s what this election is about. In 10 months, the people of Colorado will decide whether we run Washington – or whether it’s the other way around.

That decision begins today. In fact, a lot of outside interest groups have already voted.

The nation’s biggest insurance firms, drug-makers, oil companies, and Wall Street banks are pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into my opponents’ campaign coffers. Why? What do these donors expect to get in return for their money? And what have they already gotten?

Those are questions each candidate will have to answer. But here’s what we do know: the same special-interest groups that are bankrolling my opponents are blocking the reform we need in D.C.

It’s not just a single senator; it’s the whole system. We’ve put our democracy up for sale. Congress has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the industries it’s supposed to be
regulating.

It’s no secret; it’s a matter of public record. Take a look at the biggest donors on the Federal Election Commission website – that’s www.fec.gov. It’s a “who’s who” of the nation’s most powerful political action committees. These groups know that the best way to advance their agenda is not simply to lobby lawmakers – it’s to pick them.

For many industries, subsidizing members of Congress is simply a cost of doing business. Companies shell out a certain amount each month for wages, for benefits, and for elected officials.

The problem is: we get what they pay for.

That’s why we spend twice as much as our competitors on health care and are now poised to give the insurance industry 30 million more customers – without providing Americans the choice of a public option or even discussing a not-for-profit model like so many other industrialized nations use.

That’s why we shield the profits of pharmaceutical manufacturers and offer them a tax break on their advertising – rather than negotiate discounts on behalf of consumers.

That’s why we desecrate our environment and disrupt our climate – instead of ending our addiction to fossil fuel and transforming the way we heat our homes and fuel our cars.

And that’s why we not only allow the biggest gamblers in the world, the speculators on Wall Street, to jeopardize our pensions and capsize our economy, we reward them with taxpayer-funded bonuses – when we should be protecting families from foreclosure and fraud.

I want to pause on this point because it’s such a clear example of what’s broken in Washington.

Some of the nation’s largest financial firms – call them “bankers without scruples” – have been gambling with our money. They sell mortgages to people who can’t afford them, resell them at a profit, and then make even more money by betting that they’ll fail.

They’ve gotten away with this – and they continue to get away with it – only because no one holds them accountable. That’s no accident; it’s why the banking industry lavishes millions on the members of Congressional banking committees. For a Wall Street banker, the price of a pliable politician is not just a bargain; it’s a steal.

It’s a great deal for Wall Street: “Heads I win, tails you bail me out.” It’s a raw deal for everyone else.

The sight of so many senators sacrificing their constituents for the sake of their contributors isn’t just unpleasant; it’s obscene.

We’re not going to stand for this. We reject politics as usual. We want a senator whose loyalties won’t be divided. A senator whose judgment won’t be clouded. A senator who won’t have to pick between doing what’s right for his constituents and what’s profitable for his contributors.

That’s why our campaign does not accept contributions from political action committees. I am the only candidate in this race to make that commitment.

The people of Colorado understand this decision – and they support it. In the last quarter, more Coloradans contributed to our campaign than to any other candidate for any office in our state. More than 2,200 Coloradans stood up to the powerbrokers and the party bosses and the political pundits – they put their hard-earned money where their mouths are.

That matters. When we win this election, we will send a seismic shock to the U.S. Senate– which needs one. The message is this: People come first.

That’s a radical approach only in Washington. Here in Colorado, it’s called common sense.

As the speaker of the House, I stood up to special-interest groups. We fought the insurance industry – and we won. We fought drug companies – and we won. We fought polluters – and we won. We fought predatory lenders and brokers – and we won.

We not only won those fights at the State Capitol; we changed the battlefield. We enforced open-meeting laws. We allowed public testimony on every bill. We televised our debates for the first time in the history of Colorado.

I ran for office four times – and got elected four times – by engaging as many voters as possible. I recognize that the stakes in this race are a little higher. And the coverage charge is a little steeper. But what we’ve seen over the last few months – among Democrats, Republicans, and independents alike – tells us that Americans are fed up with pay-to-play politics. An appetite is growing for a different kind of candidate and a different kind of campaign. More and more people, in Colorado and across the country, are hungry for real reform.

The special interests have enough politicians on their payroll. We need a senator for the rest of us.

Got a tip? Freelance story pitch? Send us an e-mail. Follow The Colorado Independent on Twitter.

Americans frustrated by the lack of accountability of the Bush-Cheney White House may get some satisfaction from the knowledge that the administration ran the main businesses it was tied to the same way it ran the country — and there is some rich accountability taking hold in that realm.

Riding high for the last decade on its unabashed crony connections, pulling down mega-sized, no-bid government contracts and creating fast fortunes for its execs — including for Dick Cheney — Haliburton and its subsidiary KBR have come to rack up some of the largest criminal fines in history.

And, almost better than any Congressional impeachment, this week we get Haliburton and KBR shareholders suing the companies and their current and former directors, including Cheney, for criminal mismanagement, gross incompetence and corruption. Shareholder of course, being the people whose interests companies are supposed to serve, in this case are a perfect non-partisan non-ideological stand-in for the American people.

Indeed, the men and women running the New York and Michigan municipal pension funds that invested with Haliburton-KBR, have apparently seen all they need to see.

PR Newswire reports:

In what is believed to be the first legal action brought by shareholders against oilfield services provider Halliburton Company (NYSE: HAL) and its one-time subsidiary KBR, Inc. (NYSE: KBR), a municipal pension fund has filed a lawsuit alleging that poor oversight and lack of internal controls at the two companies enabled a pervasive environment of misdeed and corruption, resulting in enforcement actions and substantial government penalties that have severely damaged investors’ holdings.

[...]

Shareholders accuse Halliburton’s board of directors of breach of fiduciary duty in failing to rein in years of shoddy business practices and criminal activity that resulted in massive fines, penalties and settlements paid to the federal government.

Named as defendants are 32 former and current directors of Halliburton and KBR — the majority of the companies’ two boards — including ex-Vice President Dick Cheney, former Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger, and Robert Crandall, past president and chairman of American Airlines.

The complaint states, “As fiduciaries … the Halliburton defendants were required to exercise prudent supervision over the management, policies, practices, controls, and financial and corporate affairs of Halliburton and KBR, which Halliburton controlled.” The plaintiffs are asking for a jury trial and intend to seek damages.

Go and read the PR Newswire story. No novelist could construct a better metaphor for what the country has been through and is dealing with today as a result.

Here’s North Dakota’s sober Sen. Dorgan, who has run a series of hearings on contractor corruption involving the companies, commenting on the news.

And here, because it’s irresistible and cathartic, is more from the PR Newswire account. Enjoy.

Largest Criminal Fines Ever in an FCPA Action tied to Nigeria

Following a series of U.S. government investigations and lawsuits, Halliburton and KBR have paid more than $650 million in fines, penalties, and settlements — including the largest fine ever assessed by the U.S. Commerce Department and the largest settlement ever paid by U.S. companies for violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

This past February, KBR pleaded guilty to bribing Nigerian officials and to violations of the FCPA, while both KBR and Halliburton settled related civil suits with the Securities and Exchange Commission. KBR’s payment of some $579 million in criminal fines and penalties is believed to be the largest payment ever made by a U.S. company in settling an FCPA enforcement action. Earlier, the SEC penalized Halliburton $7.5 million for improper accounting practices that led to the company distributing materially misleading financial statements.

Former KBR Chairman Albert Stanley is serving seven years in prison for orchestrating the bribery scheme in Nigeria and receiving kickbacks. Other KBR employees pleaded guilty to accepting kickbacks or attempting to defraud the U.S. government, as well as conspiracy and bribery, and several have served prison time.

In 2006 KBR settled government contentions that it overcharged for services to peacekeeping troops in Kosovo and violated the U.S. False Claims Act by, among other things, double-billing and inflating prices of products and services.

Iraq Contracts Singled Out as “Textbook Example of Corporate Irresponsibility”

In 2007 the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction found widespread waste, mismanagement, improper documentation, and lack of oversight by KBR relating to services to American forces in Iraq, specifically regarding meals, dining facilities, and fuel imports. The two companies had already earned notorious reputations on Capitol Hill, where New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg, who serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee, commented, “Halliburton’s record of overcharging, bribery, and accounting fraud recites like a textbook example of corporate irresponsibility.” In 2007 the General Accounting Office recommended that a contract awarded to KBR be reconsidered.

Other incidents detailed in the complaint have previously led to government investigations and raised serious questions about Halliburton and KBR’s fitness and commitment to serve American military personnel in Iraq. KBR employees admitted that troops were provided untreated and untested water from the Euphrates River. On another occasion, a KBR truck used to store corpses was later put in service to deliver ice to troops — a clear violation of U.S. Army regulations even if the truck had been cleaned, which it had not.

The U.S. Justice Department is currently investigating Halliburton for possible illegal transactions with Iran through the company’s Cayman Islands subsidiary.

The complaint concludes, “The myriad crimes and wrongdoings discussed above simply could not have happened if Defendants were doing their jobs. As officers and directors of the Companies, the Defendants were required to ensure that the Companies’ internal controls were in place, functioning properly, and sufficiently strong to prevent it from committing wrongful or illegal acts.”

You know it. I know it. And Colorado Rep. Ed Perlmutter knows it.

Good news is that so do senators Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and John Cornyn, R-Texas. They reintroduced a well-designed, anti-corruption bill in January called the Public Corruption Prosecution Improvements Act, which is being heard before the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday in D.C. The act would significantly expand funding for investigations and fill in the thousand-and-one loopholes that riddle existing laws.

The bill was knocked down last year but Leahy believes that the corruption scandals plaguing lawmakers on both sides of the aisle this year may provide a rare opening. There’s a chance he says that it won’t be seen as a partisan attack. The need for the bill is clear.

Leahy introduced it to lawmakers with this description:

The bill provides significant and much-needed additional funding for public corruption enforcement. Since September 11, 2001, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) resources have been shifted away from the pursuit of white-collar crime to counterterrorism. Director Mueller has said that public corruption is among the FBI’s top investigative priorities, but a September 2005 report by the Department of Justice Inspector General found that, from 2000 to 2004, there was an overall reduction in public corruption matters handled by the FBI. More recently, a study by the research group Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse found that the prosecution of all kinds of white-collar crimes is down 27 percent since 2000, and official corruption cases have dropped in the same period by 14 percent. The Wall Street Journal reported in 2007 that the investigation of an elected Federal official stalled for six months because the investigating U.S. Attorney’s Office could not afford to replace the prosecutor who had previously handled the case. We must reverse this trend and make sure that law enforcement has the tools and the resources it needs to confront these serious and corrosive crimes.

The National Journal posted a short, sharp piece Monday on the series of court cases that undercut both investigators and prosecutors even as the vast Jack Abramoff lobbying scandals were breaking.

The webcast hearing on Leahy and Cornyn’s Public Corruption Prosecution Improvements Act begins Thursday at 10 a.m. If you’re in Washington, get there; it’s in Dirksen Office Building 226.