Scott Gessler may be the worst Secretary of State Colorado has ever had. I used the term “may be” because I didn’t bother to research the historic holders of this office. For sure, he is the only one in my lifetime to grab as many headlines for boneheadedness.

The very first week he was in office he courted controversy by announcing he was going to be Secretary of State and moonlight with his former employer, which represents mostly Republicans in questions involving the Secretary of State’s Office. Gessler was too boneheaded to see that there just might be a conflict of interest there.

That was all about Gessler’s inability to earn enough money as Secretary of State to support his desired lifestyle. Guess nobody told him what the salary was before he threw his hat into the ring. Maybe he was a sacrificial candidate, Secretary of State isn’t the most glamorous job in Denver.

Then he announced that the City of Denver could not send out ballots to “inactive” voters, while inventing a new definition for “inactive.” The courts over-ruled his order.

And then there was the announcement that there were illegal aliens voting in Colorado. Maybe they were even bused in from Utah, as local Republicans claimed. The problem is he couldn’t come up with any illegal aliens actually voting, bus or no bus.

And then he decided to rewrite campaign finance rules just because he didn’t like them. Citizens votes on a constitutional amendment about campaign finance be damned.  And now he’s going back to court to defend his boneheaded notions of being above Colorado law. Last week Common Cause and Colorado Ethics Watch filed a suit against Gessler. The Denver Post reported: “The lawsuit didn't come as a surprise for Gessler, who fired back, calling the organizations ‘the same secretive, unaccountable, taxpayer-subsidized groups’ that have sued him before.”

As a taxpayer, I’m wondering how much money we are paying to defend our Secretary of State, who is trying to suppress the vote and make it harder to know where money is coming from in politics.

Homework

Denver Post Story About Suit

Complaint As Filed With Court

Usually I don’t comment on elections in other states, but one yesterday was a doozie. It proves that voters see through all the crap that the GOP is slinging into the election process, and think it stinks.

Remember all the protestors in Wisconsin when the newly elected Republican governor decided to strip union workers of their rights in the state where most union rights were invented? Despite the protests, the GOP passed their bill, to chants of “shame, shame” by Democrats and protestors. Democrats responded by launching a recall campaign against six GOP lawmakers in an attempt to take back the Senate. The GOP responded by passing laws making it harder to vote, and by running fake Democrats in a recall primary in order to slow the process.

Yesterday was primary day in Wisconsin, and the fake Democrats lost their bids in overwhelming numbers. Wisconsin isn’t like Colorado where only Democrats vote in Democratic primaries and only Republicans vote in GOP primaries. Anyone registered to vote can vote in either primary. No doubt the GOP had a significant get out the vote effort to elect the fake Democrats. The voters saw the deceit and decided they wanted nothing to do with it.

Now there will be actual elections that could change the make-up of the state senate, turning it from red to blue once again. August is going to be a busy month, with the potential default of the U.S. government and elections in Wisconsin.

Colorado has a Secretary of State who is taking some pages out of the GOP dirty tricks book to make it harder for Coloradans to vote. Even Republican election officials see his efforts for the stinking pile of crap that it is and have refused to play the game.

Homework

Reuters Story About Wisconsin Primary

ColoradoPols Blog About Gessler Vs Reiner (Mesa County's Election Official)

During the last election, for the first time in my memory there was a spirited campaign for Secretary of State pitting appointed Bernie Buescher against elections attorney Scott Gessler. Voters decided that they preferred Gessler, and they’ve been reaping the rewards ever since.

The first on-the-job announcement was that Gessler was going to moonlight with his old law firm. Ethics law must not have been part of his law school because he didn’t notice the obvious conflict of interest. The Secretary of State’s office runs state-wide elections. His law firm represents clients who have gotten crosswise with the Secretary of State.

Gessler’s excuse was that he couldn’t manage his family’s expenses on the almost $70,000 salary that comes with his elected office, so he needed outside income. He further whined that he drove an old car and would like a new one. This went over well with the average Coloradan who earns around $50,000 a year. Lots of ordinary Coloradans are raising families and buying cars. But then their wives probably work, and Gessler’s next whine was that his wife was probably going to have to get a job.

Then, in an amazing bit of tone deafness, Gessler announced that the money allocated to the Secretary of State’s office but not needed by the previous frugal Democratic office holder would not be returned to the State coffers, as previously announced by Buescher. He’s going to need the money to serve businesses, he says. The joint budget committee responded by saying, sorry, buddy, it’s already been swept into the state budget for this fiscal year.

Further demonstrating his lack of understanding of state government, in a year where lawmakers are looking to find $1-billion or more in spending cuts in order to balance the budget, he announced yesterday that he wants a salary review of all state positions because they are under paid. Obviously he doesn’t know that most state workers have not had a pay raise in three years because the money isn’t in the budget—a problem he’s contributing to by refusing to return the $3,000,000 in savings from the previous holder of his office.

The irony in this whole mess is that Bernie Buescher now works for the Attorney General, and is officially the attorney responsible for advising Gessler. Gessler would be wise to listen to any counsel he receives from Buescher, but he hasn’t demonstrated any common sense so far.

Gessler Wants State to Review Pay

Gessler Campaign Website