There is no statewide elected official going back decades who is as breathtakingly corrupt and incompetent as Secretary of State Jena Griswold, who is now running for attorney general of all things.

And compliant ruling Democrats know it. Their silence is nothing short of complicity with Griswold’s shameful political grift.

CBS Colorado’s political reporter Shaun Boyd has exposed Griswold’s latest abuse of power, denying public access to taxpayer-paid-for documents critical of Griswold and the possible destruction of those documents.

Had it not been for the deep anti-Trump sentiment that dominated the 2018 election, the grossly unqualified Griswold would never have been elected to begin with. She unseated respected Republican Secretary of State Wayne Williams, who ran the office with nonpartisan competence and transparency.

It didn’t take long for Griswold to destroy what Williams had built. She ran off any career employees she did not deem sufficiently loyal to her blind political ambition.  

The office had a proverbial revolving door of professional staff she initially hired but who were quickly forced out. And, of course, they were required to sign nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) on their way out the door so they could not publicly talk about the deep dysfunction created by Griswold.

The office was such a mess after only two years Griswold hired an outside firm in 2020, Sage River Consulting, to make “findings, conclusions and recommendations” for “leadership development.”

Former Deputy Secretary of State Suzanne Taheri, a prominent election law attorney who worked under Williams, found an invoice in public records that paid Sage River $25,000 for the 700-page report the firm produced for Griswold.

Taheri filed a public records request to see the taxpayer-funded report, but Griswold’s office said it did not have it. Taheri asked the office to get the report from Sage River, but she was denied.

Taheri had to go to Denver District Court, which ordered Griwold’s office to call Sage River and get the documents, but the firm claims all copies have been destroyed and are inaccessible.

Former employees of Griswold say the documents do exist, but since the report was highly critical of Griswold, she refused to formally accept it so it would not be subject to open records requests like Taheri’s.

Nothing better defines Griswold’s shameful eight years as secretary of state than this sordid tale of incompetence and corruption.

Griswold has a hostile relationship with most of the elected 63 county clerks, especially after her office leaked election equipment passwords and she did not immediately inform the clerks of the breach.

Griswold loves to tout herself as the “first Democratic woman to be elected secretary of state,” but five strong, competent Republican women served as secretary of state for 32 consecutive years from 1974 to 2006. Colorado has still not elected the first competent Democratic woman as secretary of state.

When not mismanaging her office, Griswold spent most of her time preening for her next partisan appearance on MSNBC to trash President Donald Trump.

Even after eight years of her chronic mismanagement of her office as a partisan political tool — while abusing and driving off professional staff — Democrats awarded her the Democratic nomination for attorney general.

Despite having a huge fundraising advantage, Griswold won just 45% in the Democratic primary against three other Democrats, including the Boulder district attorney and a former federal prosecutor.

Griswold is a lawyer who has never practiced law, prompting Denver Gazette columnist Eric Sondermann to point out if she is elected attorney general she will get on-the-job training as a lawyer for the first time.

Republicans certainly have their problems in Colorado in 2026, with a deeply unpopular president and an unfit nominee for governor dragging down Republicans in competitive races.

However, Colorado Republicans have nominated an outstanding candidate for attorney general, respected El Paso County District Attorney Michael Allen. In stark contrast to Griswold, Allen is competent with an accomplished professional record.

Despite her sorry record as secretary of state, Griswold benefits from the anti-Trump tilt of Colorado voters. Meanwhile, Democratic leaders stand by and allow an unqualified, incompetent and corrupt nominee for attorney general to possibly skate into yet another statewide office to destroy.

Dick Wadhams is a former Colorado Republican state chairman who managed campaigns for U.S. Sens. Hank Brown and Wayne Allard, and Gov. Bill Owens. He was campaign manager for U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota in 2004 when Thune unseated Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle.