Did you know that today Democratic Grand County Commissioner Jim Newberry admitted to embezzlement and resigned his office? Oh, you didn’t know he was a Democrat? We can see how that might be confusing since the Denver Post‘s Jesse Paul failed to note his political affiliation in its coverage of the announcement.
Before we cried foul, we did some research to determine if ignoring party affiliation was standard practice for reporting embezzlement. Fortunately for our research, but unfortunately for public trust, there was another recent case of embezzlement by an elected official in Colorado – former State Sen. Steve King, a Republican.
The article that the Denver Post carried announcing King’s guilty plea, similar to today’s announcement, was actually written by the Associated Press, so we looked at another King trial milestone announcement that was written by Denver Post‘s Nancy Lofholm. Both articles clearly noted that King was a Republican.
So, why was Newberry’s party affiliation omitted?
We don’t know the answer, but we’re giving Paul the opportunity to correct his mistake, or at least, balance his reporting. But, for all of you curious about who Newberry’s affiliation, he’s a Democrat. He pleaded no contest to embezzlement.
No word on whether any other Democrat will fess up to de facto embezzlement – taking taxpayer dollars and giving them away to pet projects and industries in which they hold large investments (ahem, green energy, we’re looking at you).