Can a convicted felon run for Colorado Springs City Council?  Can someone on parole register to vote?  These are questions that accessory-to-murder turned consultant, Gary Flakes, might have asked himself before announcing his candidacy for the Colorado Springs City Council District 4 yesterday.

Flakes is backed by Rosemary Harris Lytle, past president of the Colorado Springs NAACP, who spoke at Colorado State House Rep.-elect Tony Exum’s campaign kick-off, and former State Rep. Dennis Apuan.

While Flakes may believe he’s a changed man, the nature of his crime was so heinous that his victim’s relatives are protesting his candidacy. Flakes served 12 years in prison as an accessory to murder in the 1997 Valentine’s Day slaying of 13-year-old Andy Westbay and 15-year-old Scott Hawrysiak.

According to 9News.com, Flakes was arrested along with Jeron Grant for the murder of the two boys as they were walked home from a friend’s house.  Court documents accused Grant and Flakes of driving up behind the two boys and opening fire with a 12-gauge shotgun.  Neither Grant nor Flakes ever have admitted to pulling the trigger, which caused each to serve a sentence of accessory to murder, instead of murder, which outraged the community during the trial.

He may have served his sentence, but is Flakes sufficiently remorseful?  Here’s what he told the Colorado Springs Gazette:

“As a young person, my actions devastated the community and brought grief to two families. The teenager who committed those acts made me the young leader I am today.  Today I will use my life experiences, my knowledge, to make the lives of young people better and to help all of District 4 live up to its greatest potential.

Despite his claims otherwise, Flakes’ victims’ families are still waiting for an apology from the felon turned consultant turned candidate.  According to Huffington Post:

“Michelle Hawrysiak, Scott’s sister, told KRDO that Flakes has never attempted to apologize to her family, ignored an email she wrote to him asking to meet him face to face and said his candidacy are ‘a slap in the face.'”

Flakes, backed by several left-leaning organizations, isn’t the first criminal the left has “harbored” in recent months.  The Jeffco Democrats named Estelle Carson “Democrat of the Year” even after learning she had been charged with stealing from a partially blind 71-year old woman with cerebral palsy.  Then, there was the Democratic state staffer who was accused of groping a woman on the job as he went door to door for Obama.  Of course, who could forget former Democratic Congressional candidate Joe Miklosi, who hired a six-time drug offender to handle his finances?  And, finally, there are those pesky ethical issues that continue to plague Democrats up in Adams County.

What is it with Democrats and criminals?