June 27, 2013 06:54 AM UTC

"So There!" Gessler Blows Off County Clerks, Ditches Summer Meeting

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• by: ClubTwitty

Still-Secretary-of-State-with-an-eye-on-the-door Scott ("Honeybadger") Gessler has decided that those who have spurned his efforts are not as important as other things.  The elected official tasked with overseeing elections has ditched the bi-partisan Colorado County Clerk Association's Summer Conference. County Clerks are the elected officials tasked with carrying out the elections, under the oversight of the Secretary of State, who has apparently taken his ball and moved on. 

Nonetheless, its exactly the kind of event that one might expect the Secretary of State to attend (rather than, say, a partisan Republican 'how-to' conference).  The County Clerks are not pleased. 

“We are not pleased,”

Colorado County Clerks Association Executive Director Donetta Davidson. 

The article, by Sentinel veteran reporter Charles Ashby, which is behind a paywall, includes some fascinating detail.  With Gessler's poor spokesman having to hastily erect the latest battlement of bs to thwart the public and its pesky prying of what should be petty, but private, payback:

Instead, Cole questioned why the association was using his absence as “a personal swipe” against Gessler, saying they first turned their backs on him when that elections reform bill was being drafted.

The whole article is available here, to paid subscribers. Here's what's available 'above the fold':

Gessler’s absence from meeting may deepen rift with county clerks

By Charles Ashby
Thursday, June 27, 2013

Secretary of State Scott Gessler was a no-show Wednesday at the Colorado County Clerks Association’s summer conference in Grand Junction, and officials there weren’t pleased.

Donetta Davidson, the group’s executive director and a former secretary of state, made that clear when introducing members of Gessler’s staff, who had attended to discuss various elections issues, including a controversial elections reform law approved by the Colorado Legislature earlier this year.