How many taxpayer dollars would you be willing to spend for spite?

That question came to me as I read a recent Colorado Politics article reporting on what some (me, for example) might see as pettiness on the part of the Douglas County Board of Commissioners. It appears that, for at least two of the three-member board, the answer might be the better part of a billion dollars.

The trio that serve as the commissioners for Douglas County are, well, on the conservative side of things. And that may be a rather dramatic understatement. Douglas County is likely located between me and you, dear reader, if you are in the greater Denver area. When I head north out of Colorado Springs, I crest a big hill (or a “mountain” as it would be called by folks from the midwest) and I enter the very lovely county of Douglas. Castle Rock is the charming town that is the county seat, and if you are looking for good deals on clothes, there is an excellent outlet shopping center there.

But what is also there is the aforementioned board of commissioners, and a recent action taken by the board is raising a few eyebrows, to say nothing of setting off my hypocrisy meter: two of the three commissioners want to seize a park.

In reading the CP article, I was surprised to learn that the city and county of Denver own 22 parks that are outside the city limits of Denver. And one of these is Daniels Park, which is located in Sedalia and borders Castle Pines. It’s 1,000 acres in size and has a full and interesting history. The park is popular with hikers and has played a significant role in a number of Indigenous peoples’ ceremonies over the years.

And two-thirds of the Douglas County Board of Commissioners wants that land for Douglas County.

There are many reasons why a county would want to take ownership of such a park. Certainly, if the park is in Douglas County, it would seem to make more sense for the locals to have control of and responsibility for such a park. But no that’s not why the two-thirds of the county commission want the park – they want it out of spite.

As I mentioned, these folks are a tad conservative, and they were apparently profoundly outraged when, in May, Denver passed a law that forbids carrying concealed weapons in its parks. But here is where it gets tricky: there is a road that runs through the park that is owned by Douglas County. So, in theory, you could carry a concealed weapon on that county road, but if you step off into the woods, you are now in violation of the law. Remember, please, that I’m a concealed-carry permit holder myself, so I don’t approach this as some anti-all-guns type of guy.

Last Monday, the Board went into executive session to discuss a wild proposal that would have Douglas County create an eminent domain order seizing the entire park, because, you know, guns. Now under the rules for eminent domain seizures, the “seizer” must provide reasonable market compensation to the “seizee.” With an estimated value of about $20 per square foot, that comes out to… carry the one… about $800 million. With a population of roughly 344,280, that comes out to each man, woman, and child in Douglas County needing to cough up about $2,300 each so that people can carry their concealed weapons in that park. I suspect some might have other priorities for such a sum, such as, I dunno, schools, roads, hospitals, fire departments, etc.

There are several things that leap out at me in this odd situation. First, I had no idea that Denver owns parks outside of Denver. That is likely an interesting story in and of itself. But what really gets to me, but frankly no longer surprises me, is the remarkable, shame-free, and straight-faced hypocrisy of the GOPers involved.

First, they went into executive session to discuss this crazy plan. Now executive sessions are needed by most organizations from time to time. I, for example, sit on the board of my local HOA (not one that is grabbing houses) and we have a regularly scheduled executive session at the end of every meeting, in which we discuss the details of individual homeowners that are behind in their dues, or have issues with compliance and such. We go into executive session because we don’t want to reveal the private financial details of homeowners to others.

But the Douglas County Commissioners went into executive session to discuss a very public thing: grabbing a chunk of land using one of a government’s most controversial powers, eminent domain. Such things should be discussed in the full light of day, not in a secret meeting. Perhaps it is the pure pettiness of their issue (“I wanna carry my concealed weapon in the park!”) that strikes a nerve, but it should be noted that they decided to keep the meeting private. Happily, the other one-third of the commission let people know what was going on.

And, of course, the irony that the party that claims to be the party of small government is willing to employ perhaps the most heavy-handed power a government possesses should not be ignored. The GOP is the party of small government, it appears, unless it wants to force compliance with its view of things or needs to peek into your bedroom at night to make sure you are not sleeping with the wrong type of person, or into a doctor’s office to control the choices a woman has over her own body, but I digress…

Party of small government, right…

So, at the end of the day, what is the price for pettiness in Douglas County?

For at least two of the County Commissioners, it appears to be around $800 million.

Hal Bidlack is a retired professor of political science and a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who taught more than 17 years at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.