Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler appears to have had himself audited. In a witness list he sent Tuesday to the parties involved in an investigation of his discretionary spending last year, Gessler included the name of accountant Kevin Collins.
Over the course of his first year in office, Colorado Treasurer Walker Stapleton has targeted the state’s public-employee pension plan, known as PERA, underlining its billions of dollars in liabilities and arguing that it should be reworked to reduce the state’s obligations in part by giving over money to contributors to invest themselves. He brought his case to the state’s House Finance Committee on Thursday and predictably ran up against deep Democratic skepticism.
Denver Mayor Michael Hancock today announced the appointment of Cary Kennedy as Deputy Mayor for the City and County of Denver. Currently serving as the city’s chief financial officer, Kennedy will stand second in the mayoral line of succession, acting as chief executive when the mayor is unavailable.
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney today announced the support of several Colorado Republican heavyweights including former senators Hank Brown and Wayne Allard, former Governor Bill Owens, former Congressman Bob Beuprez, current Attorney General John Suthers and current Treasurer Walker Stapleton.
Progressive politics coalition Campaign for a Strong Colorado says state Treasurer Walker Stapleton should follow the advice he provided to the U.S. House Ways and Means committee this week when he argued in favor of the Public Employee Pension Transparency Act. “Greater transparency and better information is important for the fiscal health of our states and for our taxpayers,” he said. Strong Colorado agreed and urged Stapleton to bring his point home to the taxpayers he serves by opening up his full current employment records so the Colorado public can see how he’s earning his money and spending his time.
Details concerning Colorado Treasurer Walker Stapleton’s lucrative moonlighting arrangement with the California real estate firm he used to head will soon move out of public view. Stapleton’s family finance business, Denver-based Stapleton Acquisitions Company, has announced it has completed its tender offer to purchase all SonomaWest common stock not presently held by the Stapleton family and Stapleton Acquisitions and that the deal to take SonomaWest private will likely be completed in the coming weeks.
Weeks after Colorado Treasurer Walker Stapleton took office this past January he drew a flurry of questions about a lucrative consulting contract he made with SonomaWest Holdings, the Northern California real-estate firm he headed for years as CEO. Stapleton arranged to work for up to 250 hours per year with Sonoma for $150,000 while acting as Colorado’s treasurer. Colorado AOL reporter Sandra Fish discovered the arrangement by looking at paperwork SonomaWest had to file as a public company, and government watchdogs took comfort from the fact that those public records filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission or SEC would continue to provide some level of transparency. Now Stapleton’s family finance business, Denver-based Stapleton Acquisitions Company, is proposing to buy out shareholders of SonomaWest (pdf) and take the company private. That would mean no more filing with the SEC. It would mean no more public records from which to monitor Stapleton’s moonlighting as a consultant.
John Hickenlooper was sworn in today as Colorado’s 42nd governor as flags flew at half mast to honor the dead and injured in Arizona.
He told a small group of reporters gathered in his new office shortly after the ceremony that America depends on free speech for its democracy, but he said that history swings like a pendulum and that it is time for the country to come together.
Muhammad Ali Hasan, a member of the wealthy and influential Colorado Republican Hasan family and a past state House and treasurer candidate, said he is switching parties. Speaking at the University of Colorado-Boulder on his experience growing up Muslim in the American West and later in conversation with the Colorado Independent, Hasan said he is ending his affiliation with the party for the bigotry he believes has shaped Republican politics over the last year. The FOX News regular and founder of Muslims for Bush said he met recently with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the controversial Democratic leader won him over.
Excerpts trickling out from police records describing a 1999 drunk driving accident in San Francisco seem to corroborate the account of Ginger Vasquez, a victim in the accident, who said Colorado Treasurer-elect Walker Stapleton was driving drunk and attempted to flee the scene of the accident. The police report conflicts with Stapleton’s version of events, in which he has repeatedly denied fleeing the scene.
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