UPDATE: Per 9News:

AURORA – The congressional campaign of Joe Miklosi (D-Aurora) is acknowledging it never performed a background check on an employee forced to resign after a conservative website revealed his history of drug arrests.

Doran Kaye’s background was first reported Friday by The Colorado Observer. Kaye volunteered his resignation the same day.

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A brutal story in The Colorado Observer today on CD6 candidate Joe Miklosi’s latest problem with his Congressional campaign staff. The Observer‘s Leslie Jorgensen reports that Miklosi is currently employing a 6-time drug offender, who spent at least 276 days in prison for his crimes, in his fundraising department.

No wonder Miklosi’s fundraising “blows.”

Reports The Observer:

DENVER– Democrat 6th Congressional District candidate state Rep. Joe Miklosi claimed that he didn’t know who was working on his campaign – most were being picked and paid by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC).

The controversial staff shakeups made news – but undetected was a key member of Miklosi’s fundraising team – a felon whose arrest record is riddled with drug charges.  

…Miklosi refused to answer questions about [Doran Todd] Kaye, and repeatedly said, “I’ll have Ryan (Hobart), my communications director get back to you.”

Hobart did not return calls to The Colorado Observer. Numerous attempts to contact Kaye were unsuccessful.

…Kaye’s pipeline to these campaigns appears to be a nine-month stint as a “trainer/fundraiser” for Telefund, a company  that brags of being the one of the top fundraising arms of the Democratic National Committee, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Obama for America and other “progressive non-profit organizations.”

According to Kaye’s resume, he landed the Telefund job in October 2009 – a few months after a warrant for his arrest was served and then cancelled in July 2009, and he completed a two-year probation and jail term for a class 4 felony, possession of a Controlled Substance Schedule 2 drug.

Schedule 2 drugs are described as dangerous drugs that include cocaine, morphine, methamphetamines and opium.  

According to public records, Kaye was arrested at least six times by the Denver Police Department for drug related charges from April 2006 to March 2009, excluding several warrants for his arrest primarily for failure to appear or comply with court orders.[Peak emphasis]

Give the whole story a read here. Kaye’s rap sheet reads like something out of Breaking Bad.

This is a serious issue for Miklosi, as it calls into question his judgment in managing a staff.

Seeing that it’s another scandal in his fundraising department — and Miklosi has proven to be one of the worst fundraisers in the country — it makes it worse, even if only symbollically.

Earlier this year The Observer reported that Miklosi had a back pay complaint filed by his campaign finance director Kirsten Boyd for stiffing her of her full paycheck. The complaint was eventually dismissed on a technicality because Boyd wasn’t considered an employee, and therefore the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE) could not review her situation.

Normally we would say the background of staff members doesn’t much matter, but in the case of Doran Kaye there are a few issues that make it matter.

First, the staffer in question — Doran Kaye — was in his 30s when these arrests happened, so they are no youthful indiscretions.

Secondly, these are very serious charges. Schedule 2 drugs do not include marijuana, but dangerous drugs like crystal meth and cocaine. And it’s not one arrest but many arrests in the last couple of years, including one in 2008 described in the article as “‘possession with intent’ (typically intent to sell or distribute)”. He has spent at least 276 days in prison for his crimes, according to the story.

The police records don’t detail which Schedule 2 drug or drugs Kaye was arrested for, so that will be up to the Miklosi campaign or Kaye himself to clarify.

Thirdly, Kaye’s last arrest, in March 2009 for drug paraphernalia at St. Anthony’s Hospital in Denver, was mere months before he went to work for a liberal fundraising company that boasts the DNC, DCCC and Obama’s campaign as clients.

Are Democrat donors okay with an ex-con potentially having access to their credit card information?

There are a number of unanswered questions in this story. Compass Colorado outlined three in a press release this morning. We’ll leave you with that.

When did Joe Miklosi know his staffer was a convicted drug pusher?  

Who hired the felon staffer, Joe Miklosi or the DCCC?

Will Joe Miklosi defend his staffer’s criminal actions or dismiss his employee?

(Photos via Facebook)