So what’s up at the Colorado Department of Revenue? Some employees are calling it management paranoia. Whatever the case, there’s a new policy cracking down on the use of secret recording devices, including cameras.
The policy says department employees “shall not use any covert recording device to record, photograph or film the voice, movements, actions or property of any persons, or papers in an electronic, magnetic, digital or other format without authorization to do so from the person recorded or without the written authorization of the Executive Director.”
The new policy comes after authorities broke up a $10 million tax refund scam that had been operating out of the Revenue Department. But department spokesman Steve Tool said it has nothing to do with that. He said the department “decided to develop the policy because we have investigators that use recording equipment and we wanted to establish … an overall policy within the department so it was clear regarding the use of recording equipment.”
Say what?
Some employees feel the policy is intimidating. They’ve been given no explanation as to what triggered it. They wonder if the policy is legal, whether they can still tape disciplinary hearings and whether, given the pervasiveness of cellphones, there have been secret recordings or photographs. Tool said department director Roxanne Huber believed she had “satisfactorily addressed” employee concerns.
The policy was vetted by lawyers before it took effect on Aug. 17, Tool said. The policy states that it does not prohibit use of recording devices during a lawful regulatory investigation or “when announced and authorized to do so as provided by law.”
Hating to leave
Former state Sen. Ron Teck says he won’t be challenging Democratic Rep. Bernie Buescher next year, as some fellow Republicans had hoped.
Teck said that while he was asked to run, he needs to get a “real job to position myself for retirement.”
Former Republican Sen. Kiki Traylor also has been asked to return to the legislature as Rep. Rob Witwer’s replacement in the House of Representatives. But word is that she is not interested. She was appointed to Norma Anderson’s seat in 2006, when the veteran senator resigned, but Traylor lost her subsequent bid for election to Sen. Mike Kopp.
Going from the Senate to the House was once an unthinkable move anyway, since the Senate is viewed as the upper chamber. It’s where House members strive to go.
At least 20 members of the current Senate came from the House. Only one current member of the House, Rep. Paul Weissmann, previously served in the Senate.
Still, term limits have changed traditional politics. The law forces legislators out after eight years, often before they are ready to leave. In 2006, term-limited Sens. Ken Chlouber and Dave Owen ran for the House. They had served in the legislature for longer than eight years, but weren’t ready to leave. Both lost their House bids.
Political scientist John Straayer notes that while lawmakers have moved to the opposite chamber, there has been a post-term-limit trend of state lawmakers moving to better-paying jobs in city and county government.
Frank Weddig, Jim Congrove, Doug Linkhart, Jeannie Faatz and Jim Dyer are just a few.
Following Allard’s lead?
U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard is the only senator to announce that he will be retiring after 2008. But other U.S. senators might be hanging it up, too.
Possible Republican retirements include: John Warner, R-Va.; Larry Craig, R-Idaho; Chuck Hagel, R-Neb.; and Thad Cochran, R-Miss. On the Democratic side, there is talk of Joe Biden, presidential candidate from Delaware, retiring; and Tim Johnson, D-S.D., is recovering from brain surgery and might retire.
Julia C. Martinez (jmartinez@denverpost.com) is a member of the Denver Post editorial board.
