December 13, 2010 11:26 PM UTC

At Least He's Not Your County Commissioner

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• by: redstateblues

( – promoted by Colorado Pols)

…Unless you live in Mesa County, of course, as the Grand Junction Sentinel reports on a story that keeps getting better and better–as long as you’re not Craig Meis:

Meis, who was pulled over May 15, 2008, along Redlands Parkway, told Officer Allen Kwiatkowski toward the end of a conversation he was “a big supporter of law enforcement,” and that he’d recently attended a law enforcement memorial service, according to an audio recording of the traffic stop.

“I’m a county commissioner, too, so I help you in that direction,” Meis told the officer, adding soon after, “I’m not trying to use that as influence, but I’ve got to say …”

…

The incident marks the third time since 2007 that a law enforcement officer has documented statements from Meis raising his elected position, or that he knows influential people, in the course of a police contact involving the commissioner.

And just when you thought things couldn’t get any worse for Meis–a Republican who is already facing increased scrutiny about these incidents from dissatisfied constituents among a broad range of ideological viewpoints, including Tea Party groups–he goes and does something really dumb by sending the Sentinel a typo-laden diatribe about how the victim in all this is really Meis, and the Sentinel reporters are just a bunch of meanies.

“I knew when I publicly opposed Grand Junctions (sic) Public Safety Initiative a couple years back that I didn’t endear myself with many of those at GJPD,” Meis said, when asked for comment about his statements in the officer’s recording. “It appears that it is payback time since I recently had the nerve to take a citation to jury trial and question the validity of a law enforcement officers (sic) discretion or lack thereof granted to him by those higher up.”

This is politics 101 people. When you find yourself in a hole, the first thing you need to do is to stop digging. With statements like this one, it appears Meis is intent on getting a bigger shovel.

(H/T Ralphie)