January 29, 2007 10:34 PM UTC

Republican Mark Paschall Indicted

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• by: Colorado Pols

One of the more, shall we say, less than honorable Colorado elected officials in recent memory was formally indicted today on charges that he solicted kickbacks. As the Rocky Mountain News reports:

A Jefferson County grand jury indicted former county Treasurer Mark Paschall on two felony charges in connection with an allegation that Paschall solicited a kickback from a bonus he awarded one of his employees, the District Attorney’s Office said today.
The grand jury began hearing the Paschall case earlier this month, following allegations that Paschall sought a kickback of half the after-tax take from a $25,000 bonus he awarded in December to Kathy Redmond, his administrative coordinator and long-time associate. Paschall hired Redmond in 2003…

…The indictment charges Paschall with attempted felony theft and one count of “compensation for past official behavior,” also a felony.

Paschall, a former state legislator and a fiscal conservative who entered office on a promise to keep a close watch on tax dollars, was elected to his single term as treasurer in 2001.

Paschall proved to be an embarassment to Republicans from his first day on the job as Jefferson County Treasurer, and his list of questionable decisions is as long as it is strange. Paschall tried to get the county to buy him a Cadillac Escalade and then tried to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars remodeling his office (including the installation of bulletproof glass). He added six new staff members, several of them political pals, after he took office despite his pledges to keep spending down.

And then there was his infamous foray into the Jefferson County courts, when he handed out pamphlets instructing potential jurors that they could ignore state and county laws; according to Paschall, the only laws jurors really needed to follow were the laws outlined in the Bible.

Paschall was briefly a Republican candidate for congress in CD-7 two years ago before giving way to Rick O’Donnell. He lost his bid for re-election in a GOP primary last August.