Secretary of State Jena Griswold refuses to take responsibility for any of the numerous mishaps in her office including the posting of critical voter system passwords that remained online for months.
However, the civil servant served up by Griswold as the scapegoat she says is responsible for the leak no longer works in that office.
No, the buck does not stop with Griswold for the black eye on Colorado’s alleged golden election system.
She’s also blaming the Democrat-controlled state legislature for refusing to give her all the taxpayer dollars she demanded for personal security budget increases.
That won’t serve her well if Republicans pursue impeachment proceedings when the state legislature convenes in January.
Republican state House leaders are calling for her resignation, and key Colorado Democrats are already turning on her:
Neguse is seen as the frontrunner to win Colorado Gov in 2026.
BUT if Dems win the Majority in Congress, hard to imagine Neguse gives up being #4 & maybe a future Speaker
This + the Griswold debacle is good news for AG Weiser who folks say is also considering a run for Gov. https://t.co/7R5pRStrKr
— Deep Singh Badhesha (@DeepNotShallow) October 30, 2024
With Griswold’s eyes on the governor’s mansion in the 2026 election, she might not have as much support among state legislators to be trashing them like that.
Denver 7 News reports this was a rookie mistake, which we would add is occurring in Griswold’s second term in office:
“This is cybersecurity 101,” said Indrajit Ray, a computer science professor at Colorado State University. “Nobody should write down clear text passwords in a file for everyone to read.”
Griswold’s refusal to take any responsibility herself was made clear in an interview with Colorado Public Radio.
Asked why this serious security infraction does not rise to the level of resignation, Griswold insisted that she is just a victim of mean Republicans.
“Is there a pattern of you falling short on this job?” Griswold was asked.
She insisted she has not, claiming some fantom title that Colorado tied in a contest for number one in “confidence of our elections.”
I see that @JenaGriswold is on her redemption tour. Don’t buy it people. #Copolitics
— Lynn Bartels (@lynn_bartels) October 31, 2024
Like that time, she banned her state employees from any official travel to Alabama because she disagreed with the state’s abortion law?
Her personal politics has interfered with the daily functions of the office of the Secretary of State, and is partly to blame for the office’s crumbling credibility.
And now we learn that she is trying to wriggle out of a state law against revealing these passwords online that Griswold herself crafted for the legislature.
Remember that this is a new law—one @COSecofState championed at the legislature as a result of the Tina Peters case.
Is it irony or karma? https://t.co/kAkb8bR87v
— George Brauchler (@GeorgeBrauchler) October 31, 2024
Of course, we’re seeing a double standard of what happened to now imprisoned former Mesa Clerk Tina Peters and what is not happening to Griswold.
Peters’ actions leading up to and after the leak of Mesa County passwords outside of her office were her ultimate undoing, yet it was at the hands of a politically vengeful Griswold who did in fact use the password leak to bring her down.
Just as the actions of Griswold’s office and Griswold herself have led to the public mistrust of her office and Colorado’s election system, which we would argue is a much more severe offense.
The conspiracy theories and voter mistrust in the state’s maligned and tarnished “gold system” can only be healed with Griswold’s removal of office.
Whether that’s politically feasible for Democrat remains to be seen.
But we’re guessing the Democrat-controlled legislature isn’t too thrilled that Griswold tried to throw them under the bus for the password leak scandal, which Kyle Clark and Marshall Zelinger of 9News are reporting on with unusual enthusiasm.
And it’s not just the leak of the passwords that were online for many months, but the coverup that’s a problem for Griswold.
She was warned about the problem a week before informing county clerks statewide of the password leak that could compromise their systems if a culprit gained inside access to their equipment.
Griswold suggested clerks had been notified in a timely manner, yet the Daily Sentinel reports:
Mesa County Clerk Bobbie Gross said she and the clerks in the other 63 counties of the state were informed of the situation when Griswold released a public statement on the matter Tuesday, hours after the state GOP released an initial statement disclosing what had occurred.
The first person to violate the “Tina Peter’s Law” was Jena Griswold?
Can’t make this stuff up https://t.co/9TsAWCz526— Pathofmostresistance (@Pathofmostresi1) October 31, 2024