January 07, 2008 10:31 PM UTC

"Your Tax Dollars At Work in Jeffco"

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• by: Colorado Pols

The Denver Post opines:

Special prosecutor Don Quick said last week that he didn’t have enough evidence to prove a crime was committed when Jefferson County hired private investigators to tail a county gadfly.

Maybe it’s not a crime, but it sure seems like a big waste of money for activity that raises ethical questions…

The county spent $7,462, mostly to follow and run background checks on Mike Zinna, a longtime county critic…one bill is for a two-man surveillance team that followed Zinna to his home. The invoice notes that it was for address verification and surveillance.

For 11.5 hours, the investigators watched Zinna go to a dealership and ride a motorcycle, eat lunch at a cafe, take his dog to a park and kiss a woman.

How this relates to Zinna’s litigation with the county is a mystery. But the county coughed up $2,043 for this information.

Your tax dollars at work.

Even though Quick’s investigation is over, a related probe continues. The Jeffco sheriff’s office is investigating the disappearance of county files that are said to have contained information about Cinquanta’s hiring and perhaps other matters…

Jeffco officials need to find a way to conduct county business in a way that engenders the trust of county residents.

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