There are a number of great political blogs in Colorado that produce extensive and detailed coverage of local events and stories that the mainstream media misses or ignores.
One such blog is Tony's Rants, that has covered the investigation into corruption and nepotism by Adams County Commissioner Alice Nichol assiduously.
As we pointed out in February, Adams County Democrats have been caught up in so many corruption scandals that it's beginning to be dubbed "Little Chicago." The tentacles of Democrat corruption even reached the level of Democrat Coroner, Jim Hibbard, who hired strippers and misplaced bodies.
While the Hibbard case provided tabloid-esque details that could interest even the trashiest TV viewer, a more serious investigation is underway into Commissioner Alice Nichol. She is accused of giving Adams County jobs to her relatives and giving special breaks to a company called Quality Paving and its sister company, Quality Resurfacing, in a pay-for-play scandal.
A special prosecutor has now been called to look into filing charges against Nichol. From the Denver Post:
Quick's office and Adams County sheriff's investigators first began looking into Nichol's ties to Quality Paving after The Post discovered that the company had done a $10,000 paving job at her home just after its then-president, Jerry Rhea, had cast the deciding vote to give the commissioner's son-in-law a high-paying Adams County job.
Despite a well-publicized investigation into Quality Paving that began in 2008, Nichol had never disclosed to investigators that the company did work at her home.
To date, six people have been charged with multiple felonies in what prosecutors allege was an elaborate scheme that saw Adams County taxpayers billed for $1.8 million in paving work that was never done.
Quality Paving charged the county for paving roads that didn't exist and once charged for 15 miles of paving on a road that was only 10 miles. As we said, Chicago-esque corruption.
Nichol, who has also been a State Representative and State Senator, has been known as a self-preserve-at-any-cost politician for a while now. She was supposed to be limited to two terms as Commissioner, but helped get a deceptively worded initiative on the ballot that allowed her the ability to run for a third term by asking people to support their own right to vote for her again.
For more on Alice Nichol and her long list of troubling actions covered by Tony's Rants, click here.
Beyond Alice Nichol, corruption among Adams County Democrats touches virtually every elected Dem in the county. While the Denver Post has done a number of investigations into the wide variety of unscrupulousness in Adams County, Tony's Rants has produced the most extensive coverage of all.
For a detailed list of the extensive and almost unfathomable levels of corruption seen in Adams County covered by Tony's Rants through January of 2011, click here.