Color us surprised.  A Denver Police Protective Association’s (PPA) Executive Board Member has resigned after calling into question the way decisions about the union’s spending were made.  Here’s what Duane Parton told Brian Maass of CBS4 after Parton highlighted that $5,000 in PPA funds were given to a member without following procedure:

“I cannot stay on a board that makes reckless and secretive decisions,” wrote Parton. “Call this payment of money whatever you want to, but I am greatly concerned about the secrecy surrounding it….

I never voted for that money to be spent, nor can I locate any Board vote listed in the minutes of the meetings I had not attended. I will not continue to serve on a board that disregards its own rules and ignores its membership in such a flagrant fashion … secrets will not make us into a strong organization … Using the member’s money is a tremendous responsibility which I took very seriously. I will not be part of a board that makes this type of secret decision involving the membership’s funds.”

The president of the association declined to comment, and questions remain about whether the spending was legit.  But, if there is hanky panky going on with the funds, that’s really appalling.  It’s not as if PPA’s members are getting rich working for police departments, so wasting their hard-earned dollars is reprehensible.  Then again, we think that most union dues are wasted, particularly when they end up in the political sphere.  And, even more so, when donations to political causes weren’t authorized by members.  Just chalk this up to another union membership dollar flushed down the drain.