Good ‘ol boy network alive and well (local government).

[enipla]

@Frank

Due to the close connections, if I lived in Park County, I’d ask the DA if it would not be more appropriate to borrow prosecutors from another county. I know it’s been done here in Denver metro, though I can’t remember the specific case.

At least the CBI will get involved.

It’s really pretty sad. The regular Joes that keep Park County up and running make a horible wage. It’s really a two edged sword. Nobody is going to vote for Wage increases or Fire department improvements when they see this shit.

Heck, a couple of years ago we had to fight to continue to get our roads plowed.

What really gets my goat is we have been having private fundraisers to help this Fire Dept out. Guess we know know where the money has been going.

[GLWasteful]

@tdn

At least the mayor never bought me lingerie.

Well, that he told you about anyway.

[mswas]

Local government is better because it’s easier for you to watch yourself. If you are not watching it, then when you get screwed it’s your own fault, as opposed to the Federal Government where it’s more of a tragedy because you don’t really have the option to be watching the goings on closely.

Incidentally a friend of the family just got indicted for this kind of thing.

God Bless the internet, it makes it easier to watch this kind of shit.

[enipla]

@mswas

God Bless the internet, it makes it easier to watch this kind of shit.

Yeah. What bugs me most about this is that the finance department didn’t catch it sooner. 3 years…That’s why I mention the 'Good ‘ol boy network’.

[whole_bean]

@Kaylasdad99

I suspect enipla has concern that this guy’s defense attorney will be able to use his relationship with his former office to influence the prosecution to “take a dive”, as it were.

Many, many, many federal and state prosecutors move on to become criminal defense attorneys, often working in the same counties/districts they served as prosecutors in. Hell, the few people who graduate law school with a “five-year plan,” are the kids who go to the DA’s office to learn how to try a case and then go into private practice to get rich. This is quite common.

@enipla

Yep. In a small county like ours I suspect that that former DA knows a lot of people here.

That’s OK. It can’t be helped.

That’s the way it is in small communities.

But, the former DA that used to defend lawsuits against the county is now working privately to defend a county employee.

That’s OK too. But we all smell something.

While working as a DA she had a working and social relationship with the defendants Wife.

Acceptable, but maybe a little weird. It is the good ‘ol boy network after all.

That’s when the CBI came in asking questions. They smell something too.

What bothers me most is that this shit seems to happen again and again. I don’t think that the county commissioners are involved directly, but they turn a blind eye to those that are.

It seems to me that the Fire Chief screwed up again and again and is out of control. And his bosses (county commissioners) did nothing, or could do nothing to stop it.

Now, the Fire Chief has the ex county DA as his defense attorney.

This shit has been in the monthly paper so much that I suspect that the CBI will step in and get to the bottom of it.

I hope so.

My guess is you either have the fire chief’s lawyer’s former job description or title wrong. DA’s are generally criminal prosecutors. They wouldn’t defend the county; they would represent the people of the county in criminal actions. County attorneys, on the other hand, represent the county in a myriad of civil litigation and transactional matters. I could be wrong, but if she “defended the county” as a county attorney, then she’s probably got no more “connections” at the DA’s office than many other members of the local bar — That would raise the question, “why is she doing criminal defense now?” Sounds like a small place, lots of general (mal)practitioners? I don’t know, but it’s still not fishy. The fact that his defense attorney knew his wife prior to this is not alarming on its face either. My guess is the lion’s share of defense work comes from referals made by colleagues of the attorney and friends/family of the accused. There’s just simply nothing wrong with it. Noe of this excuses the misapprpriation, but it sounds like that is being handled.

[KneadToKnow]

@zamboniracer

That was always my beef with Ronald Reagan Republicans who always asserted that things were best handled by the local government as opposed to the national government. Having dealt with the local government I thought anyone who voluntarily wanted to deal with them was crazy.

No, no. The point of that always was that corruption at a local and state level could only be punished under state laws! Corruption at a federal level would be punishable under federal laws and could land you in federal pound-me-in-the-ass prison. More government at the local and state level equals more corruption at the local and state level equals less corruption at the federal level.

See? Makes sense! It’s morning in America!

I’m going to hate myself in the morning.