July 21, 2021 11:30 AM UTC

Westminster Recall Crashes And Burns, Gessler Still Makes Bank

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• by: Colorado Pols

As Liam Adams of the Colorado Community Newspapers affiliate Westminster Window reports–the latest thinly-veiled partisan power play by Republicans hoping to rebuild their bench and base in municipal races, an attempted recall of a single Westminster city councilman nominally over water rates, failed yesterday by a lopsided margin:

Jon Voelz will keep his seat on Westminster City Council after unofficial results in Tuesday’s contentious, expensive election showed him with 62% of total votes.

“I’m glad the common sense of our residents prevailed,” Voelz said in a phone call Tuesday night. “This misleading, and wasteful and shameful recall is coming to an end. I look forward to continuing my work on city council.”

As we noted earlier this month, this recall election was (regardless of the outcome) one of the most egregious wastes of time and taxpayer dollars in Westminster’s history, since Jon Voelz is coming right back up for his regular re-election this fall:

Voelz’s seat is only safe until November when he must run for reelection. The recall election cost the city up to $250,000 to run because it was not part of a coordinated county election.

In addition to failing dismally in their campaign to recall Jon Voelz from office, the so-called “Westminster Water Warriors” wasted a quarter million taxpayer dollars by forcing a special election less than four months before the regular municipal elections in November. Unlike in the case of a frivolous lawsuit, there’s no provision by which the city can recover their expenses for a frivolous and needless recall election, but the timing and outcome of this effort make it one of the most brazen and ultimately self-immolating abuses of recall power we’ve ever seen.

But as the story continues, there is one winner. It’s the guy who, as Republican recall, coup attempts, and other assorted shenanigans come and go, always seems to come out the winner:

As of July 16, the Water Warriors fundraised a total of $19,606 and spent $21,383, most of which went to [Scott] Gessler in attorneys fees. As of July 7, the group still owed Gessler about $20,000.

Former Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler, who scooped up thousands in attorney’s fees from the failed 2019 recall attempt against Gov. Jared Polis and billed top dollar to the Trump campaign for his “expert testimony” on how the 2020 presidential election might have been stolen in Nevada (it wasn’t), is now $40,000 richer from the recall that cost Westminster taxpayers $250,000–assuming he collects the remaining $20,000 he’s owed, of course. It’s possible that the cost of Gessler’s treachery to society has never been more arithmetically quantifiable.

Just like the third certain to fail recall attempt against Gov. Polis now maybe getting underway, as long as there’s a single dollar to grift from these half-baked operations there will be folks with more time than credibility ready to undertake them. At some point, though, even the most fact-impervious rabblerouser on the right has got to realize that they are all being, at the end of the day, fleeced by usual suspects up the food chain who have no interest whatsoever in their success.

“Honey Badger,” well and truly, doesn’t give a shit.