“Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

I’m sure the British historian and moralist Lord Acton had never heard of Jefferson County, Colorado when he wrote these immortal words in 1887. Lord Acton observed as a person‘s power increases, their moral sense diminishes.

He could have been talking about the Democratic-controlled Jefferson County Board of Commissioners, which has handed hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to a well-connected Democratic operative to build a thinly disguised partisan campaign to pass a county tax increase after it failed twice before.

Just like so much of Colorado, the once-competitive battleground county is now deeply blue. Every county office and every state legislator from Jefferson County is a Democrat. 

The last Republican county official was one of Colorado’s most respected sheriffs who won a second term in 2018 only because Democrats failed to field an opponent against him. Otherwise, despite his sterling professional reputation, he would have gone down to defeat as a Republican.

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The last Republican state legislator, state Rep. Colin Larson, was unseated in 2022. Democratic candidates for statewide office carry the county by large margins. Democrats outnumber Republicans 117,000 to 91,000 with 202,000 unaffiliated voters who have swung heavily Democratic in recent elections.

The Jefferson County Board of Commissioners is made up of three longtime Democratic activists and elected officials. Andy Kerr is a former Democratic state senator. Tracy Kraft-Tharp is a former Democratic state representative. Lesley Dahlkemper served on the non-partisan Jefferson County school board but has been long active in Democratic politics.

Despite Democratic dominance, Jefferson County voters rejected proposals in 2019 and 2021 to raise taxes and override Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) limits on how much revenue Jefferson County can take in. Those proposals were backed by well-funded campaigns organized by professional Democratic operatives but they were stopped by opposition taxpayers led by conservative activist Natalie Menten.

Undeterred by clear voter sentiment against killing TABOR and raising taxes, the commissioners are trying again, but this time they are using tax dollars against the majority of taxpayers who rejected them.

The commissioners recently approved a county-funded contract to pay a Democratic political consulting firm, The Bighorn Company, $343,000 to essentially organize a new campaign to override TABOR and increase taxes.  Bighorn is owned by Ian Silverii, who previously led ProgressNow Colorado, an organization that advocates for Democratic socialist policies and candidates.

Silverii is married to Democratic U.S. Rep. Brittany Pettersen, who served in the state legislature with two of the commissioners.

According to the contract, Bighorn will be paid $343,000 to “recommend political strategy to inform decision makers; do policy research and development; community outreach; polling; and strategic communications.” In other words, build a political campaign funded by taxpayer dollars.

Silverii will be paid $118,000 and will oversee $110,000 in polling.

Though questions have been raised about how the $343,000 political contract was awarded to Bighorn under the Jefferson County RFP (request for proposal) process over other Democratic political consulting firms, that is the least troubling part of this partisan political activity by a county governmental entity.

Taxpayer funds should not be used to finance a political campaign — which is exactly what the commissioners are doing.

Make no mistake about it, the commissioners are paying a partisan political consulting firm $343,000 to essentially conduct a partisan political campaign out of the Jefferson County Courthouse to pass a Democratic proposal to raise taxes and kill TABOR restrictions.

There is nothing wrong with the commissioners putting such a proposal on the Jefferson County ballot for voters to consider, but that is where their involvement should end. Abusing taxpayer dollars to run a campaign to pass the proposal is wrong. 

The vast network of wealthy Democratic donors and consultants can raise the money and create the outside campaign to try to pass the tax increase including all the parts of the Bighorn contract even though they have lost twice before.

There is no doubt if Republicans still controlled the board of commissioners and they gave $343,000 to a Republican firm, Silverii and ProgressNow Colorado would have gone apoplectic. 

Lord Acton was right. Absolute Democratic power and dominance in Jefferson County feeds an arrogant attitude of county elected officials that they can get away with anything.

Funding a political campaign to pass a tax increase with $343,000 in Jefferson County taxpayer money is absolutely wrong.

Dick Wadhams is a former Colorado Republican state chairman who has been a Jefferson County resident and taxpayer for the past 42 years.