With an amazing number of tainted public officials in Adams County, it was only a matter of time before a Watch Dog group popped up to address the situation.  Yesterday, the Adams County Reform Project stepped in to fill the void.  According to spokesperson Michelle Lyng:

“Adams County is widely recognized statewide as the center of scandal, mismanagement and corruption in Colorado. Our campaign will educate voters on how the overt corruption, scandalous cronyism, and embarrassing violations of public trust perpetrated by Adams County officials impact them, and will encourage voters to elect reform-minded candidates dedicated to transparency and sound public stewardship.”

The press release goes on to highlight some of the best of the worst in Adams County governance:

• Adams County Assessor Gil Reyes, who has been charged with criminal misconduct for lowering the taxable values of his top contributors’ commercial properties in Adams County.  Reyes has also been charged with sexually inappropriate behavior toward coworkers.
• Adams County Commissioner Alice Nichol, who has been involved with the Quality Paving scandal and with the questionable purchase price of her mother’s home by Adams County in a road-widening effort.
• Adams County Sheriff Doug Darr, who recently settled against charges that he violated a deaf prisoners’ rights and that he penalized an employee who was considering running against him for sheriff.
• Former Adams County Coroner James Hibbard, who has wasted over $1.6 million in Adams County taxpayer dollars in sexual harassment and retaliation settlements to former employees.
• Former Adams County Treasurer Diane Christner, who used county resources to bolster her own campaign efforts.

As the Peak has reported in the past (here, here, and here), Adams County is Colorado’s version of Chicago, and has seemed to embrace a culture of corruption among its elected officials.  Of course, all of the elected officials just happen to be Democrats.  Hey, we’re not saying that Democrats are all corrupt, but we are saying that it seems all the Democrats in AdCo are.

Check out the Adams County Reform Project for a great timeline on the corruption.  Brace yourself for the anger over wasted and abused resources to follow.