In a county encompassing nearly 1,200 square miles and with more than 600,000 residents there is bound to be plenty of drama.  Trends in recent years however show that Adams County government is on the wrong track as scandals and management issues keep the county in the news resulting in it being cast in an unfavorable light.

There have been numerous problems accounting for federal government funds, questionable land deals and evidence of cronyism in awarding contracts.  Elected officials have used county equipment for their political campaigns and others have turned a blind eye to major issues within their departments and ridiculed those who dared to question them.

Voters need to understand there are problems – major ones – and leadership at the county level needs to be held accountable at the ballot box.

One little known fact is that the Adams County Commissioners, the Treasurer, the Clerk, Assessor and the Coroner are full-time employment positions – unlike city councils.  Each one of these men and women are compensated handsomely to the tune of $87,300 per year plus expenses and benefits.

Their charge is to run an efficient and honest county government that provides services to its citizens while being good stewards of taxpayer money.  As you look through the list of problems below, ask yourself this simple question – have our current county elected officials succeeded and are they worthy of another term?

One or two problems over the course of a few years might be seen as understandable.  Having more than a dozen significant scandals and episodes of mismanagement is a trend that needs to be noted and corrected.

The current leadership from the Adams County Commissioners on down has been in place long enough to have corrected these issues and yet they have not.  Rather than confront the issues and be up front with the taxpayers, the powers-that-be choose to circle the wagons and deny, deny, deny.  It is always someone else’s fault.  Enough is enough.

• This list was updated 5/12/12

May 2007 to current – Adams County government continues to sit by and watch taxpayer money go to the FasTracks boondoggle. The writing was on the wall in May 2007 when the Regional Transportation District announced the FasTracks rail program would cost $1.4 billion more than promised.  In the intervening years costs have risen and mismanagement of FasTracks runs rampant.  The situation has gotten bad enough that north metro area residents will never see the rail system they are paying for without further tax increases.  Adams County government has remained silent rather than stand up and defend its citizens.  County commissioners continue to blindly support the project while doing nothing to ensure taxpayers get what they voted for.  (Source)

February 2008 – Adams County parks and rec director goes shopping on taxpayers’ time. An investigation by Channel 7 finds that the supervisor of the county’s parks system, Crystal Gray, is pretty much working whenever she wants.  Gray comes and goes at will and spends work hours shopping in Boulder.  In the end Gray resigns in disgrace.  (Source)

November 2008 – Continuing the trend in recent years, Adams County is the slowest county in the Denver metro area to report election results. Final results are not posted until 25 hours after polls close.  Editors of the Northglenn-Thornton Sentinel note that, “Once again, Adams County seems to lag the rest of the state in its ability to give timely, accurate election information.”  County Clerk Karen Long however insists voters and taxpayers simply expect too much from her office and that it is “ludicrous” to expect timely results.  (Source)

February 2009 – Adams County HOME and Community Development Block Grant programs fail to account for millions of federal dollars. In an audit of the county’s program that administers low-income housing funds, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) found major problems with the county’s administration.  Among the issues noted were using funds without appropriate contracts, giving out money before actual costs were incurred and spending $2 million in funds without the required documentation.  HUD noted that, “Adams County lacked the internal controls needed to effectively manage the use of its HOME funds” and that the mismanagement, “could be depriving its low- and very low-income families of needed benefits.” (Source 1) (Source 2)

May 2009 – County loses administration of chunk of grant money. The City of Thornton votes to take away the administration of Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) from Adams County and handle them in house.  Adams County’s failures to properly administer their program concerned city officials as the county’s ongoing problems with money management could result in the loss of federal funding that helps Thornton’s low income residents.  With bi-partisan agreement, Thornton City Council votes to make the city its own Entitlement Community thus allowing it to receive funds directly from HUD rather than through the county. (Source)

September 2009 – Adams County’s HUD problems are so bad they make it into the agency’s Inspector General report to Congress. It noted that the county “spent more than $1.2 million on ineligible CDBG activities” and “did not ensure that more than $1.6 million in CDBG activities met a national objective.”   (Source)

September 2009 – HUD’s office of the Inspector General sends a memo to the agency’s Denver office warning of Adams County problems. The agency says that the county’s prior mismanagement has caused concerns that the county is incapable of properly administering stimulus funds.  They concluded that, “We found weaknesses that could significantly affect the County’s capacity to administer its Recovery Act funding.”  Most troubling is that they specifically noted that the county program was not administered by knowledgeable and capable management staff and they did not have a process in place to eliminate known conflicts of interest.  (Source1) (Source 2)

November 2009 – Still waiting for election results. Election Day once again brings problems in Adams County as the county is the only one in the metro area unable to complete its vote counting on election night.  In the end it takes Clerk and Recorder Karen Long’s office 23 hours to post final results, a showing that is so dismal the Colorado Secretary of State’s office calls the county on election night to find out what the problem is. (Source)

April 2009 – Adams County Coroner’s office embroiled in scandal. The office, run by Democrat James Hibbard, faces a bevy of problems ranging from charges of sexual harassment, failure to properly conduct autopsies, hiring of inexperienced investigators (including one from a strip club), and the misplacement of bodies.  Local media seizes on it but Adams County officials refuse to release the results of their investigation despite the public’s right to know. (Source 1) (Source 2)

September 2009 – County Commissioners Larry Pace and Alice Nichol execute act of political self preservation. Adams County voters have said time and time again they like their elected officials to be limited to two terms.  How do you get around it?  You place an issue on the ballot and word it so deceptively that voters might be tricked into voting for it which is exactly what Pace and Nichol did.  Further, the pair ignored the advice of their own district attorney about the issue resulting in a lawsuit that required a federal judge to resolve.  In the end voters approved Adams County Issue 1A giving these two a chance to seek a third term and continue the great work highlighted on this page. (Source 1) (Source 2)

January 2010 – Adams County fined for improper use of funds for lawsuit. In an attempt to stop the dumping of hazardous waste near Deer Trail, the city sues the state of Colorado.  County administrators spend $1 million from a hazardous waste fund to fund the lawsuit.  The county is found to have spent this money improperly and is fined.  Taxpayers foot the bill for their folly. (Source)

July 2010 – Contract for Adams County Community Needs Assessment embroiled in dispute. A county selection committee chooses Corona Insights to perform a “community needs assessment” – a study to determine what services are needed for residents.  Assistant Director Elizabeth Groginsky yanks the contract from Corona and forms a new committee (hand selected by her) that in turn chooses another firm to conduct the study – the same firm that has a lock on most county work through her office.  (Source)

August 2010 – County Commissioners Larry Pace and Alice Nichol ignore staff recommendations on company to provide furniture to new government center. Taxpayers have generously given the county hundreds of millions of dollars for their new offices.  A “Furniture Selection Committee” chooses Citron/Paoli/Teknion to provide the furniture for the new digs based on the company’s quality and the cost.  Without explanation County Commissioners Larry Pace and Alice Nichol overrule the county employees and give the contract to Officescapes/Steelcase – at a higher cost to the taxpayer.  Commissioner Skip Fischer, the lone voice of reason on the Board of Commissioners, objects strenuously to the improper award but is outvoted. (Source)

August 2010 – Clerk and Recorder starts issuing excuses for slow election results before the election. With apparently nothing having been done about the county’s historically slow vote counting, Karen Long warns ahead of time that results will be slow – again.  (Source)

August 2010 – County pays out $1.8 million for road work that was never done. Once again asleep at the wheel, it is found that Adams County paid out taxpayer money to Quality Paving for roadwork over a period of years that was never completed.  Adams County Construction Manager Sam Gomez and Road Inspector Stacey Par were charged with theft, conspiracy to commit theft, forgery, attempt to influence a public servant and embezzlement of public property.  All of this occurs right under the noses of the county government. Adams County Commissioners have yet to formally make a statement on the issue and explain why there was insufficient oversight that allowed taxpayers to be fleeced. (Source)

September 2010 – County land deal costs taxpayers $727,000 more than what it should have. As reported by the Denver Post, a bizarre land swap deal for a proposed juvenile detention center goes through a series of twists that result in the taxpayers footing a hefty bill.  Rather than try to buy the land directly, the county has a developer buy the land and the developer then turns around and sells the land to the county for a tidy profit of $727,000.  Did no one in management raise a red flag over this? Adams County Commissioners have yet to formally make a statement on the issue and explain this waste of taxpayer money.  (Source)

October 2010 – Adams County Treasurer uses county equipment for election campaign. Treasurer Diane Christner is found to have used county equipment and personnel to make copies of flyers for her campaign.  Perhaps just as troubling is evidence that Christner used her position to pressure department employees to attend her campaign fundraisers (at a cost of $10 per person).   (Source)

December 2010 – Adams County Assessor rewards political donors with lower property taxes. It is revealed soon after his reelection that Gil Reyes was giving some sweet deals on property taxes to his biggest donors.  The end result is the loss of tens of millions of dollars in revenue for Adams County. (Story)

January 2011 – New Adams County Coroner fires staff after being sworn in. Well it sure didn’t take long for yet another controversy to hit the County Coroner’s office.  Less than 48 hours after being sworn in new coroner Monica Broncucia-Jordan fired nine staffers apparently without cause.  Whatever the reason, the action is odd and very questionable.  Broncucia-Jordan herself told 7News, “I don’t have any specific issues with any specific individuals.”  (Story)

January 2011 – Former head of Quality Paving surrenders to authorities. Jerry Rhea will face 23 felony counts for his involvement in the scandal that saw his company rake in $1.8 million from Adams County for work that was never performed. (Source)

January 2011 – Coroner once again in the news. Newly minted County Coroner Monica Broncucia-Jordan once again is in the news, this time for her office shuffling around the body of Wayne Kelly.  Sondra Kelly, Wayne’s ex-wife, told 7News, “I don’t appreciate it being shipped around like a lost bag at DIA.”  Broncucia-Jordan made no apologies and felt she was being unfairly targeted by the media.  She went on to say that her office had a backlog of “anywhere from 100 to 2,500 cases long.”  That’s a pretty wide range and it is scary to think the head of the coroner’s office doesn’t have a better handle on it.  (Source)

January 2011 – County Commissioner Alice Nichol’s family ties and the good old boy network in Adams County exposed. In a lengthy story in the Denver Post the actions of some county officials continues to come to light.  From underhanded business dealings to charges of nepotism, the evidence, while largely circumstantial, is more than enough to raise serious questions.  Like other county officials, Nichol is neck deep in controversy and once again shows how these old Adams County families have taken advantage of taxpayers for decades.  (Source)

February 2011 – Following the money trail: Campaign contributions to Commissioner Alice Nichol raise more questions.  Looking at campaign contributions to Alice Nichol we see that she has received a great deal of money from those involved in the Quality Paving scandal.  Other contributions come from well-entrenched members of the Adams Family. (Source)

February 2011 – Two women suing Adams assessor allege demeaning jokes, retaliation.  Gil Reyes’ woes continue to grow.  The Denver Post reports that the county assessor is now being sued by two employees that claim, “he repeatedly engages in sexual “humor” that demeans women.” (Source)

February 2011 – Adams County road-widening project paved with irregularities.  In a lengthy investigation in the dealings of Commissioner Alice Nichol’s, the Post reveals a ‘tangled web’ surrounding dealings with her family’s property on Washington Street.  It appears that the Adams Family’s ties allowed them to receive an inflated price for property the county purchased.  Further, Nichol was active in awarding no-bid contracts to Quality Paving.  (Source)

March 2011 – Post Editorial: Adams County residents need answers on Alice Nichol.  The Denver Post pens an editorial saying, “The sheer width and breadth of alleged wrongdoing in Adams County government are disturbing.”  Directed primarily at Alice Nichol, the paper falls short of calling for her to resign but says all of the problems raise “serious questions about Nichol’s fitness for office.” (Source)

March 2011 – Adams County Dems make officers of scandal-tainted former politicos.  The trials and tribulations of Adams County Democrats in recent months have revealed just how deep the scandalous Adams Family blood runs in the county.  The county party would have been wise to distance themselves from these events and people but instead has aligned themselves with the scandal-tainted politicos by making them officers. (Source)

April 2011 – Adco Commissioner Nichol fails ethics test; Numerous violations of Code of Ethics found.  Tony’s Rants took a look at the Adams County Code of Ethics and found that Commissioner Alice Nichol was in clear violation of many provisions.  (Source)

April 2011 – Special prosecutor takes over case against Adams County Commissioner Nichol.  With more than 80,000 pages of evidence, Adams County DA Don Quick turns over the investigation into Alice Nichol’s dealings to a special prosecutor. Jefferson County District Attorney Scott Storey will take an outside look into Adams County’s shameful elected official. (Source)

May 2011 – Tickets for taxes: Adams Family at it again as assessor drops property taxes in exchange for sports tickets.  Need a break on your property taxes?  Perhaps you should give Adams County Assessor Gil Reyes tickets to a Rockies or Avalanche game.  Reyes accepted tickets to sporting events from campaign contributors whose property he was responsible for assessing. (Source)

May 2011 – Jury says Adams County Sheriff Doug Darr violated rival Mark Nicastle’s rights.  Even the county’s top law enforcement officer isn’t free from scandal.  A jury finds that Sheriff Doug Darr violated the First Amendment rights of his rival Mark Nicastle leading up to the last election.  In the end, the taxpayers will foot a bill well into six figures for Darr’s misdeeds.  (Source)

June 2011 – Adams County Assessor Gil Reyes charged with not disclosing gifts.  The ‘tickets for taxes’ scheme of Assessor Gil Reyes heads to court.  DA Don files criminal charges against Reyes for his failure to report gifts. (Source)

August 2011 – Investigation concludes Adams County Assessor Gil Reyes violated property tax laws.  The Colorado State Board of Equalization determines that Reyes violated property tax laws.  The board wrote, “The clear conclusion from this analysis is that contributor properties were incorrectly valued compared to non-contributor properties.” (Source)

August 2011 – Adams County ex-lawman settles lawsuit for $730,000.  Politics forced Mark Nicastle to suffered through unwarranted investigations and a demotion at the hands of Sheriff Doug Darr.  The former sheriff’s lieutenant settles with the county for $730,000 as compensation for the indignation he endured.  Guess who will foot the bill for the sheriff’s misdeeds?  You guessed it – the taxpayers. (Source)

October 2011 – Where is Ken Riley? RTD director MIA from job representing north Denver area.  While not directly tied to county government, we learn of another Adams County politico with problems.  With the RTD FasTracks boondoggle set to leave the north Denver area behind, residents are apparently not getting adequate representation on the Regional Transportation District Board of Directors.  Ken Riley, the elected representative for District K, has been MIA in recent months and has many wondering, “Where in the world is Riley?” (Source)

October 2011 – Denver Post: Scandal-tainted Adams County Assessor Gil Reyes not fulfilling job obligations.  Following on a previous report first seen here on Tony’s Rants of one Adams County politico not showing up for work, the Denver Post discovered another.  Scandal-tainted assessor Gil Reyes apparently is not even working part time at the full time job taxpayers elected him to do. (Source)

October 2011 – Ex-Adams County official charged in paving scandal.  Lese Assay, former public works director for Adams County, is now faced with felony criminal charges for his role in the Quality Paving scandal.  (Source)

October 2011 – CBS4 Finds Adams Co. Sheriff Jobs Only Go To Staff’s Children.  Taken by itself this one may not seem like much of a story but when you are in Adams County with a county government suffering from many ethical lapses, this bears a close look.  Brian Maass reports that, “The Adams County Sheriff’s Office has been doling out lucrative, taxpayer-funded summer jobs only to sons and daughters of department members.”  Adding insult to injury, the sheriff’s office doesn’t care. (Source)

October 2011 – RTD Director Ken Riley resigns amid allegations of theft from union.  After being missing from the job voters hired him to do for months and potentially facing criminal charges, Ken Riley submitted his resignation to the RTD Board of Directors.  In a troubling trend, he becomes the third local Adams County politico in recent months to become embroiled in scandal. (Source)

October 2011 – Colorado Peak Politics on Adams County: “This has past the point of ridiculousness”.  The shenanigans of Adams County Democrat-dominated politicians have been well documented on these pages and some local newspapers.  Political news site Colorado Peak Politics recently wrote of the Adams Family, “If you’ve got a D next to your name in Adams County you’re probably corrupt.” (Source)

November 2011 – Biting the hand that feeds them: Adams County tells cities to pay more or your prisoners go free.  Residents of Adams County paid for a fancy new jail and continue to pay taxes to fund its operation.  That however isn’t enough.  In one fell swoop Adams County has set back relations with the cities within its borders 20 years in a move that threatens to return more criminals to the streets instead of remanding them to jail.  The inability of the county government to properly control its finances now is set to harm the very citizens who pay the county’s bills. (Source)

November 2011 – Adams County paid $1.6 million to settle sex-harassment allegations in coroner’s office.  Adams County elected official’s misdeeds are costing taxpayers a LOT of money.  The latest bill is for $1.6 million paid out to former employees of the coroner’s office.  All suffered as a result of former Coroner James Hibbard and his inability to act appropriately while in office.  Isn’t it interesting, BTW, that all of these problematic officials are Democrats?  (Source)

November 2011 – Adams County’s disgrace goes national as Drudge Report highlights suit against sheriff.  Our shame goes national.  Twenty five days.  That is how long the Adams County Sheriff’s Office is accused of jailing a deaf man without providing any means to communicate with him.  Continuing a troubling trend of problems with county government, the story has now gone national with Drudge Report and the Associated Press highlighting the story.  There are always two sides to a story and we would like to give the sheriff the benefit of the doubt but given recent history, it is hard to.  (Source)

November 2011 – More charges for former Adams County official, paving executive in scandal.  Key figures in the Quality Paving scandal have more felony charges tacked on.  The Denver Post reports that Sam Gomez now faces 84 charges, Dennis Coen has 70 charges to face and Lee Asay 26. (Source)

November 2011 – Pot meet kettle: Partisan Adams County Democrat decries partisan politics. In a letter to the editor of the Northglenn-Thornton Sentinel a resident took to lamenting partisan politics at Thornton City Hall.  Considering the source is as partisan as they come, the dispatch is almost comical. (Source)

December 2011 – Thornton mulls breakaway from Adams County; City considers becoming own county.  Faced with a diminishing return for its tax money, the City of Thornton wonders if they might be better off breaking away from Adams County.  Given recent scandals and the fact that the city’s taxpayers don’t get out of county government what they pay in, it is a valid question to consider.  (Source)

January 2012 – Adams County Commissioner Skip Fischer announces that he will not seek reelection for a third term.   One of two commissioners now on the board with ties to the county’s scandalous history, Fischer saw the writing on the wall and will slip into history rather than go down in defeat in November. (Source)

January 2012 – Guilty: Key figure in Adams County scandal found guilty of 62 felonies.  The first conviction in one of many scandals to rock Adams County in recent years has yielded stunning results.  Dennis Coen, former vice president of Quality Paving, has been found guilty of 62 felonies. (Source)

February 2012 – Guilty too: Jury finds Quality Paving owner guilty of 23 counts.  One by one the key figures in a scandal that has rocked Adams County are seeing justice at the hands of juries.  Today former Quality Paving owner Jerry Rhea was found guilty of all 23 felony counts he faced. (Source)

February 2012 – Disgraced Adams County Commissioner Alice Nichol to seek reelection for third term.  One would think that accusations of nepotism, cronyism, fraud, and corruption would be enough to dissuade someone from running for office but sometimes politicians just don’t get it.  Such is the case with Democrat Alice Nichol who announced today she will seek a third term as county commissioner. (Source)

February 2012 – Colorado State Senator Mary Hodge, Representative Cherylin Peniston try to lay cover fire for reelection and corrupt county Democrats.  State Senator Mary Hodge and Representative Cherylin Peniston have represented Adams County for many years but sat silently through dozens of scandals in Adams County and refused to take a stand for their constituents.  Now, faced with a public uproar, they are desperately trying to save their political careers by forcing an ethics measure on the entire state. (Source)

April 2012 – Key figure in Quality Paving scandal gets 13 years behind bars.  For his role in ripping off Adams County taxpayers to the tune of $1.7 million, Dennis Coen will be spending over a decade in jail. (Source)

April 2012 – Adams County employee pleads guilty in paving scandal.  Seeing the writing on the wall, former county construction manager Sam Gomez decides to cut a deal rather than go to trial for his role in the Quality Paving scandal.  (Source)

May 2012 – Quality Paving owner sentenced to 9 years in jail.  With help from county employees and elected officials, Jerry Rhea’s company ripped off taxpayers by claiming work had been done when it never was.  He will pay for his misdeeds by spending nearly a decade in jail.  (Source)

May 2012 – New criminal charges are filed against Adams County Assessor Gil Reyes.  Funding a political campaign is pretty easy if you are an Adams County Democrat.  As Reyes showed, you simply have to run a little ‘pay to play’ scheme.  Unfortunately for him, his criminal actions are catching up with him. (Source)

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