This week on Colorado Politicking, legislative reporter Pat Poblete and chief legislative reporter Marianne Goodland discuss Interior Secretary Deb Haaland’s trip to Colorado, and judicial reporter Michael Karlik discusses Mesa County’s chief judge, who is facing a lawsuit because he is alleged to have ignored expired protection orders not getting cleared, resulting in arrests that violate the Fourth Amendment.

“The real focus of that trip was in Grand Junction when she met with employees of the Bureau of Land Management’s national office,” Goodland said.

The headquarters moved in 2019, and only three employees relocated to Grand Junction.

“They now have a problem of about 80 vacant positions,” Goodland said, “and the Biden administration does not seem to be wildly enthusiastic about keeping that office out there.”

Pivoting to the case of Mesa County’s District Court Chief Judge Brian J. Flynn, Karlik said one man is alleging that he was arrested seven times based on a protection order that had expired.

Flynn, who Karlik reported was told several times that the protection orders were not being cleared for the police to see, is being defended by the government, which says it wasn’t clear that Flynn was violating any constitutional rights. But the federal court in Denver didn’t buy that defense. 

“It’s really interesting to see what will happen to the judge,” Karlik said, “and it’s interesting to see what the state does, if anything, to make sure this doesn’t happen in the 22 judicial districts across Colorado.”

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