March 11, 2013 09:35 AM UTC

Elected County Sheriffs and High-Stakes Politics Mix Poorly

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• by: Colorado Pols

We talked today about the last-minute desperation on the part of Republicans and their gun-advocate allies to kill some or all of a package of five gun safety bills that won initial passage in the Colorado Senate on Friday. A key tactic employed by Republicans and allies in this debate has been to flood the field with as any dire allegations about what these bills would do as possible, regardless of factuality. The goal being to keep the outrage bubbling harder than can be debunked–assuming the press even has the time or willingness, which they often don't.

As you know, county sheriffs in Colorado are elected officials–in a very many cases in this state, Republican elected officials who are eager for political advancement. This has made them a fast ally of the gun lobby and Republicans tryint to kill these bills, in marked contrast, for example, to appointed urban police chiefs much more inclined to support them. There are other factors in that divide, but this is the principal one.

This weekend, politicized, elected law enforcement converged with the aforementioned political desperation to kill this package of gun safety bills, and the general atmosphere of truthlessness cultivated by gun advocates.

And the results were not pretty. KRDO-TV Colorado Springs:

El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa dropped a bombshell over the weekend claiming Colorado Senate Democrats are threatening sheriffs' salaries because sheriffs oppose gun control legislation. But big questions remain about who the threats came from.

Maketa made the allegations Saturday morning on the Jeff Crank Radio Show on KVOR. He said he got an email from a member of the County Sheriffs of Colorado describing a verbal conversation that person had with someone connected to Senate democrats.

"Basically in that email, it said the Senate majority leadership, the Dems, are very upset with your opposition and testimony on the gun bills and they are stating we should reconsider our positions to gain a more favorable light for salary support from the Dems," Maketa said.

In a nutshell: that Senate democrats are delaying a measure to raise sheriffs' salaries because sheriffs are speaking out against gun control…

In a talk-radio setting, something like this coming from a sworn law enforcement officer is going to sound absolutely horrible. El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa's allegation, which he represents as fact even as he throws in that it's second hand information, is pretty nasty. We, and we don't think anybody who reads this blog in either party would condone a quid pro quo arrangement of silence for pay raises, even on an issue we support. That said, things like this probably do happen, and the picture can easily form in the public's imagination.

The only problem? There's no proof of any of it.

After presumably having it breathlessly pitched to him by dozens of outraged conservatives, 9NEWS' Kyle Clark posted this on his Facebook wall last night, explaining why his station hasn't bit on the story:

Here's what we know: We asked Sheriff Maketa to discuss his very serious claim with us and provide a copy of the email he cited. Through a spokesman, he declined to speak with us or make the email public.

Additionally, the County Sheriffs of Colorado (CSOC), through which the alleged threat was communicated, says it has no knowledge of the issue.

Sheriff Maketa called for an investigation by the Attorney General. We spoke with AG John Suthers directly. He said he has no knowledge of the sheriff's request. [Pols emphasis]

Here's what Sheriff Maketa said the supposed threat from Democrats consisted of on Jeff Crank's radio show:

And there is another bill, that has been put off and put off, and that is Salary Commission which makes recommendations to the legislature for the pay of Sheriffs and other county elected officials. As you know, Jeff, my pay is actually set by the legislature. Well, Governor Ritter, under his tenure, created a commission that would study these salaries and come forward with fact-backed recommendations. Now this salary bill has no effect on me. But the Dems have been dangling it out there and refusing to follow their own created commissions’ recommendations. They’ve put it off now for two years.

And basically in that email it said you Sheriffs, um the Senate Majority Leadership…, the Dems, are very upset over your testimony in opposition on the gun bills. And, um, they are stating that, um, basically, um, we should reconsider our position to gain a more favorable light for salary support from the Dems...

Of course, Senate President John Morse denies all of this. But one thing is right, there is no bill on raising the salary of county sheriffs before the legislature this year. That's not the result of politics, though: presently a "Category I" county sheriff in Colorado, such as El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa, makes over $111,000 a year: more than the Attorney General, or even the Governor. As we've discussed many times, there is a disconnect between salaries paid and caliber of candidates expected for elected office in this state. For whatever reason, though, that does not hold true in the case of Colorado's elected county sheriffs.

Unless Sheriff Maketa some hard evidence to back up this totally unsubstantiated allegation, or at least has it corroborated by someone, we're filing this with all the other distractions and falsehoods from the GOP in this debate. Maketa should be ashamed for engaging in factually evasive misinformation as a sworn law enforcement officer. And even though it wouldn't help the term-limited Maketa personally, this is a terrible way to ask for a raise.