July 25, 2025 02:03 PM UTC

Epilogue: The Jeff Small "Shakedown" Story Isn't Over

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• by: Colorado Pols

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A major story that broke last week in the Washington Post and then significantly expanded upon by the Denver Post last Friday has gone mostly quiet this week, but that could just be temporary as questions continue to swirl about Jeff Small, a principal with the Republican consultant firm 76 Group who reportedly made unusual inquiries with Colorado county governments on two unrelated subjects: accessing Colorado election equipment in hopes of casting doubt on our state’s election results on behalf of the Election Denier-In-Chief Donald Trump, and also “shaking down” counties who were on the administration’s short-lived list of so-called “sanctuary jurisdictions” for a fee to get them removed.

The latest news we have on the subject came a couple of days ago, as Colorado Springs’ 11 News reports, as El Paso County’s Republican commissioners issued a full-scale denial of any involvement with Small in seeking to get their names off the DHS “sanctuary” list–despite Small’s claims otherwise:

According to the article, Small contacted officials in multiple Colorado counties earlier this year, offering to help them get removed from a federal sanctuary jurisdictions list. In some cases, the article implied that Small solicited payments for this service.

But El Paso County officials say there was never any formal relationship, financial or otherwise.

“We had not engaged Mr. Small,” said Commissioner Carrie Geitner in an interview with 11 News. “There was no direction given, and certainly no payments made.”

Geitner clarified that Small did reach out to one commissioner, Holly Williams, but emphasized there was no collaboration or agreement…

Contacted by 11 News, Small clarified that the phone calls he made to federal officials unknown on behalf of El Paso County were gratis:

“I personally advocated for the removal of El Paso County, Weld County, and Garfield County free of charge,” Small wrote, “because I felt strongly that these counties never should have been on the sanctuary jurisdictions list in the first place.”

The problem, of course, is that Jeff Small’s pitches to get counties removed from the DHS list for a fee were reportedly made to politically Democratic counties like Jefferson and Arapahoe. It makes some sense that Small would put in a good word* for Republican-run counties for free, but that in no way excuses trying to shake down Democratic counties for cash money for the same service. If anything that makes it worse, not least for Small’s employers at the 76 Group. Small’s boss Josh Penry kicked questions about Small’s activities back downward, and both have tried to separate this alleged side gig of Small’s from the 76 Group’s wide-ranging business interests. 76 Group is in the news today as the lead on a new ballot measure to tie the legislature’s hands even further on transportation funding, and those kinds of above-board pursuits don’t mix well with shady shakedowns of potentially the same entities.

The biggest unanswered question, and we’ll be watching for the next round of reporting on this story to discover, is exactly who Jeff Small interceded with in the federal government to get favored and/or paying counties removed from the DHS list. Was Small reselling access to his most recent employer before the 76 Group, Rep. Lauren Boebert? How did Small’s for-profit operation fit in with Boebert’s and other Colorado Republicans’ (hopefully) not-for-profit work to accomplish the same task?

Much like Trump’s furious efforts to make the “Epstein hoax” go away, 76 Group doesn’t want Jeff Small in the news. This is not the kind of press that brings in new business.

But there’s more to be told, and we’re staying tuned.