GARCO commish om page 5 improperly used taxpayer funds to pay for drinks while at the conferences, among other findings. Martin was ordered by the county to pay back the $1,800, and did repay $1,000, according to reports. The remaining $800 reportedly was paid by checks from fellow commissioners Tom Jankovsky and Mike Samson, for reasons that have yet to be fully explained. At a political forum in Glenwood Springs on Oct. 12, Martin denied any wrongdoing and accused the Democrats of essentially playing politics with irrelevant charges and attempting to intimidate and threaten him into resigning and abandon his quest for reelection. Martin has not responded to repeated requests from The Sopris Sun for an interview about these and other matters related to the county commissioner race and the charges by Democrats. The Democrats say Martin’s financial juggling amounted to embezzlement of county funds, and have wondered publicly whether the alleged “double-dipping” was indicative of similar malfeasance over a much longer period of time than that covered by the audit. “John Martin embezzled money from the county, and instead of trying to uncover the extent of his malfeasance and obtain justice for the taxpayers of Garfield County, the powers that really run our county covered it up,” claimed Democratic Party leaders, including Chairman Bob Shively, attorney Andrew Quiat and Acha, in a press release issued last week. “This investigation found thousands of
dollars misused by Martin, but was so limited in scope and time period there could be thousands more pocketed or misspent on personal items that were not uncovered,” party officials maintained. The party also has alleged that Martin, while traveling, has not adhered to county and IRS policies and rules regarding the keeping of records detailing meals and other activities paid for with public funds. On Monday, the party accused Martin and his fellow commissioners of improperly charging meals to county credit cards over a period of a year and a half, from January 2015 to April 2016, which was the time span covered by the party’s FOIA requests in recent weeks. The FOIA requests yielded documents that show the taxpayers were billed for meals on Mondays throughout the period, Monday being the normal day of regular meetings of the Board of County Commissioners. An examination of county records, according to a statement by Acha’s campaign, shows that “nearly every Monday John Martin enjoys a free lunch on the county dime with at least one other commissioner.” Martin again has denied any wrongdoing, according to reports. But Acha’s campaign maintains that, if it is true that at least two commissioners regularly take lunch together on meeting days, then the commissioner routinely violate the state’s laws concerning open meetings, which require that any meeting of two or more members of a three-person political body meet in open, advertised session.
If two or more commissioners meet for lunch, according to the Democrats, they are illegally doing public business outside the confines of a legal open meeting, advertised in advance. But Martin, according to published accounts, has said that county business is not discussed at the luncheons. In a news report published on Monday, he is quoted as saying that the commissioners only have an hour for lunch on meeting days, admitting that he and Samson often eat lunch together on those
days, but do not talk about official matters. Acha’s statement also accuses Martin and the other commissioners of regularly buying lunch for others, but not keeping detailed records about who those others are and what is discussed during the meal. Martin, reportedly, has countered that the commissioners are authorized to buy lunch for others when conducting county business, and that while it might be a good practice to record who is at those lunches and what is discussed, it is not required.
Daniel Romano’s sculpture titled “Sentinel” is part of the Carbondale Public Arts Commission’s 2016-2017 Art aRound Town show. It’s for sale for $32,000. Photo by Lynn Burton
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12 • THE SOPRIS SUN • www.SoprisSun.com • OCTOBER 20-26, 2016
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