Special prosecutor Don Quick said last week that he didn’t have enough evidence to prove a crime was committed when Jefferson County hired private investigators to tail a county gadfly.
Maybe it’s not a crime, but it sure seems like a big waste of money for activity that raises ethical questions.
The county spent $7,462, mostly to follow and run background checks on Mike Zinna, a longtime county critic.
For years, he has regularly attended county commission meetings, criticized decisions and said unkind things about many public officials. And he sued the county several times over different matters, including a failed deal to develop land at the county airport.
The litigation, ostensibly, is what prompted the surveillance. Following Zinna and requesting records about his background apparently constituted “investigative services.” Of course, it has nothing to do with his being a big pain in the neck.
Word of the surveillance got around. Authorities received “numerous” citizen calls about it and at least one call for an investigation.
To avoid any potential conflicts of interest, a special prosecutor was appointed to look at whether commissioner Jim Congrove took part in hiring a longtime friend to investigate Zinna and whether that constituted a crime.
The letter issued by Quick includes copies of invoices and reports produced by private investigators. Under the subject line “Mike Zinna,” they mention recording public comments at county commission meetings. One bill is for a two-man surveillance team that followed Zinna to his home. The invoice notes that it was for address verification and surveillance.
For 11.5 hours, the investigators watched Zinna go to a dealership and ride a motorcycle, eat lunch at a cafe, take his dog to a park and kiss a woman.
How this relates to Zinna’s litigation with the county is a mystery. But the county coughed up $2,043 for this information.
Your tax dollars at work.
Quick’s investigation included other concerning revelations. The private investigator hired by the county, Daril Cinquanta, has been a friend of Congrove’s for 30 years. Even while Congrove was the subject of Quick’s investigation, he tried to distribute $33,000 of county money to a non-profit affiliated with Cinquanta.
Even though Quick’s investigation is over, a related probe continues. The Jeffco sheriff’s office is investigating the disappearance of county files that are said to have contained information about Cinquanta’s hiring and perhaps other matters.
It’s bizarre to think about county officials using taxpayer money to have a citizen tailed. At minimum, the county ought to consider enacting tighter fiscal controls so that expenditures of this sort and amount are the subject of greater oversight.
Hiring a well-connected private investigator to follow a government critic, even in the name of defending a lawsuit, doesn’t pass the smell test.
Jeffco officials need to find a way to conduct county business in a way that engenders the trust of county residents.
