Garfield County Colorado Democratic Party

Truden: No decision yet

By Dennis WebbOctober 8, 2005 With a week remaining before she must make a decision, District Attorney Colleen Truden said she is still considering whether she will protest a recall petition against her."We're still just in the process of evaluating the options and signatures, that sort of thing," Truden said Friday.She declined to say whether she was leaning one way or another in her decision.Colorado Secretary of State Gigi Dennis ruled Sept. 29 that the recall petition was sufficient.Petition organizers gathered 9,032 signatures, of which Dennis rejected 2,406 and deemed 6,626 to be valid. They needed 5,455 valid signatures from registered voters in Garfield, Pitkin and Rio Blanco counties to force a recall election. Truden is district attorney for the 9th Judicial District, which is composed of the three counties.Truden has until Oct. 14 to protest the petition. A protest could focus on the signatures' validity or the process under which they were collected.A hearing on a protest would have to be scheduled within five to 10 days after the secretary of state's office mails the hearing notice. If the protest is unsuccessful, Gov. Bill Owens would have to set an election within 45 to 75 days.Recall leaders say Truden has been dishonest, mismanaged her office and failed to prosecute cases. She says the recall effort is "petty partisan politics."

Petition is valid GPI 9-30
The recall petition against District Attorney Colleen Truden is sufficient, according to Colorado Secretary of State Gigi Dennis.What happens next is up to Truden, who has until Oct. 14 to protest the petition, which would trigger a hearing.The district attorney said Thursday she is evaluating that option, but she had not made a decision. Challenging a petition typically means protesting an alleged flaw in the collection of the signatures or in the signatures themselves.Truden on Thursday called the recall effort “petty partisan politics” and expressed confidence that she would prevail if the attempt to remove her from office moves forward to an election.“I’m fully confident that the voters are going to know, when they hear the truth and the facts, of what we’ve managed to do with this office and how we’ve improved it,” she said. “For example, felony convictions are up 13 percent and, oddly, we’ve increased the level of professionalism here.”“The way I look at it, that’s the same confidence she felt in us not getting the requisite number of signatures,” said Martin Beeson, a former deputy district attorney under Truden and one of the recall organizers. “I suspect that deep inside, she knows what’s coming down the pike.”The recall petition accuses Truden of mismanagement, dishonesty, wasting taxpayer dollars and failing to prosecute cases, among other transgressions.Her opponents submitted a petition containing 9,032 signatures, though only 5,455 were necessary to put a recall on the ballot.The secretary of state’s office announced Thursday it rejected 2,406 signatures and verified the remaining 6,626 as valid signatures from registered voters in Garfield, Pitkin and Rio Blanco counties.The three counties make up the 9th Judicial District, for which Truden was elected district attorney in November 2004.Beeson said he had mixed feelings Thursday upon learning the petition would stand.“I think it’s a sad day for the district; it’s also a day of hope,” he said.“Things are going to get better for the district — that is my fervent hope,” said Beeson, who has stepped forward as a candidate for the post in the event Truden is recalled. Chip McCrory, a former assistant district attorney in the 9th Judicial District, has also declared his candidacy.If Truden challenges the petition, a hearing on the protest will be scheduled within five to 10 days from the date the secretary of state’s office mails the hearing notice. Then, if the petition survives the protest, the governor must set an election within 45 to 75 days. It’s possible a recall election, if one is held, won’t take place until early 2006.But if Truden chooses not to protest the petition, the recall can proceed directly to an election.Truden has been at the center of controversy since last April, when three deputy district attorneys resigned, citing philosophical differences with her management style. Since then, several other deputy district attorneys have also resigned, along with other staffers.She has also faced scrutiny for the handling of her office’s finances, the hiring of her husband, Fred, to do work in the office, and the veracity of statements she made to county commissioners.“From the start, this has been a petty, partisan attack on our office,” Truden said Thursday. “We’re going to look forward to informing people of the truth and the opportunity for them to understand what we’ve really been doing.”

Petitions certified for recall vote of Glenwood DA
By Charlie Brennan, Rocky Mountain NewsSeptember 29, 2005
State election officials announced today that they have certified enough petition signatures to trigger the first recall vote of a Colorado district attorney in nearly 30 years.
Organizers turned in 9,032 signatures earlier this month calling for a recall election for Ninth Judicial District Attorney Colleen Truden. The Colorado Secretary of State’s office Thursday announced that 6,626 are valid — more than the 5,455 required to force a vote.
Truden, the top prosecutor for Garfield, Pitkin and Rio Blanco counties, now has five days to signal her intent to challenge the state’s findings, and another 15 days to complete that challenge.
If the certification of the required petition signatures holds up, Governor Bill Owens would then schedule the recall vote for 45 to 75 days from that date.
It is expected that Truden, whose salary is $82,380 according to Garfield County records, will challenge the signatures’ validity. She could not immediately be reached for comment, but her opponents expressed confidence that Truden won’t stave off a vote.
"I’m very glad that we were successful in this stage of the proceedings," said Glenwood Springs attorney Sherry Caloia, a member of the recall committee. "It’s not over, yet. I believe she’ll challenge them."
Truden, who has never been a criminal prosecutor but emphasized to voters her management and administrative skills, has been assailed by her critics for performance in precisely those areas. Seven prosecutors have quit since she was sworn in, Jan. 11.
The two most recent deputy district attorneys to quit were her own hires. Several who have left cited a hostile work environment as a factor in their departures, and were also offended to find themselves being escorted from the offices short of their anticipated final workday.
In addition, Truden, 47, faces accusations of nepotism, for having hired her husband, Fred Truden, as a part-time independent contractor, working primarily on office computers.
Also, Truden is alleged to have lied to public officials, most notably Pitkin County commissioners, who’d asked about her husband being on her payroll earlier this year.
Truden insists she answered truthfully in denying that was the case, since her husband was not on the payroll, and it was his company — not him, personally — that was paid about $6,000 for 136 hours work from early February to mid-March.
Fred Truden no longer does any work in his wife’s office, and she said he has also ceased doing anything for her on a volunteer basis.
No district attorney has ever been recalled in Colorado history. The only attempted recall to go to voters was a bid to oust Pueblo District Attorney Joe Losavio in 1978. He survived that vote.

Take Truden allegations seriously By Jon Busch

What in the world is going on in our District Attorney's office? DA Colleen Truden was the runaway winner in last fall's election in no small part because the voters of Glenwood Springs wanted her. It's a small town much as is Aspen and I've often joked that there's no such thing as privacy in places like ours.
I can only conclude that Colleen Truden was well-liked downvalley. By now everyone knows of her reputed transgressions. Hiring her husband seemed a little suspect, but then again conflicts of interest in small towns are next to impossible not to have. Unfortunately the work he did appeared to be something another private contractor was doing as well. That she blew a good bit of her budget on an office remodel I could have dismissed as inexperience about financial matters. Lying to Pitkin County Commissioners in an open meeting about her husband's "volunteer" work in her office was just plain stupid. But when former Aspen City Councilman Tony Hershey, a staunch Republican, of a conservative stand who worked hard to get Truden elected quits her office -- that's serious!
This says two things to me. First of all, things must really be bad in the DA's office. Secondly it gives me a new respect for Tony Hershey. During his years on City Council we had numerous conversations which sometimes moved beyond local politics and onto the national stage. I think he really liked George Bush and his crew. Some of you do too, but national polls show continuing erosion of our confidence in him. Pundits on the news channels and in the print media are finally beginning to whisper that the emperor has no clothes. Is George Bush the Washington, D.C. version of Colleen Truden? In justifying the war he said Iraq had weapons of mass destruction when they didn't. Then the reason morphed into something else and something else again. The infamous "Downing Street Memos" implied pretty clearly that he had determined to go to war irrespective of WMDs. What do we have -- over 1,800 American citizen soldiers dead and a nation with a record deficit? And in Colorado a Fort Collins soldier returns from combat, kills his wife and then commits suicide. An Army public relations guy goes on TV saying that all soldiers are screened for mental problems before being returned to civilian life.
I feel sorry for our citizen soldiers. They went into the military reserves. Sure they knew that they could end up in harm's way. The National Guard might have to get involved in riot control -- they did at Kent State when someone panicked and killed a student. There might have been a street riot somewhere, but who would have thought these guys, most of whom have families, would be involved in a war in a foreign land where they get killed and kill others. Some cynics believe this whole war was about avenging the attempt on Bush senior's fife by Hussein. The problem now of course is that we can't get out. We can't leave Iraq because chaos would erupt and we'd leave the nation in a bloody civil war.
But here's the thing. Slowly the "Tony Hershey" Republicans are finding independence. There comes a point at which, no matter how loyal to the party, one has to take a stand against wrongs. Christine Whitman, a powerful Republican organizer and former governor of New Jersey, spoke here about taking the high road and calling on her party to throw off the yoke of party extremists. The James Dobsons of the Religious Right have been given too much power. Are his threats that he will see to it that those who oppose his views never get elected to office for real? He can only if an apathetic citizenry does not stand up to him. Wasn't it Richard Nixon who came up with "the silent majority?" What a clever way to co-opt people. If you don't tell us you're against what we do, then you're with us. I have come very close to seceding from my church. I don't want to be counted as one of Dobson's minions and he will count me. Larry King Live had a bunch of ministers on his call-in show the other night. They want a Christian nation under God's law. Tell me that's any different except by degree than all those radical mullahs of Islam who want to impose Allah's law on the Middle East?
I signed the Colleen Truden recall petition and I take that action seriously. Law and order not withstanding, the District Attorney's office is very important and it must be beyond reproach. To remain silent is to condone the actions that office takes. Colleen Truden can have her day in the court of the electorate. Perhaps she can explain her actions. In the meantime many of those who worked for her have left in disgust. When one of your own, a fellow Republican, leaves the allegations against her need to be taken seriously.

Commissioners join recall effort
Ireland, Owsley help plot strategy to oust Truden Carla Peltonen looks for people to sign the petition to recall District Attorney Colleen Truden on Wednesday at the Woody Creek Store. (Mark Fox/The Aspen Times)
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By Chad AbrahamSeptember 1, 2005 Among those trying to recall District Attorney Colleen Truden, add a couple of names: Pitkin County Commissioners Mick Ireland and Michael Owsley.They were part of a small group of recall proponents who met Wednesday evening at the Woody Creek Store to plot strategy on how to get thousands of more names on petitions before Sept. 16.Sitting around an old wooden table, Owsley, Ireland, recall organizer Sherry Caloia and six others discussed the pros and cons of locations where petitioners can go and other details of the campaign.Even though he and Ireland are supporting the effort to oust Truden, Owsley said the atmosphere wouldn't be awkward the next time Truden meets with the commissioners."I signed the petition. If she reads every signature, it's going to be awkward 8,000 times for her," he said.Ireland, who won two recall campaigns against him as a commissioner, said having adversaries is part of political life. Truden will be treated fairly by county officials, he said."I supported Lawson [Wills] in the primary and she knew that, and I was the one who advocated that she be paid fairly, and that happened," Ireland said. "But I also have a public obligation to protect the integrity of the process to make sure people are honest with the county commissioners. Yeah, there's a conflict there, but win or lose, she'll be treated fairly."Ireland also cited the fact that he is an attorney, which comes with obligations "to police your profession. We have disciplinary channels and a binding code of ethics with consequences," he said. "One of my obligations ... is to protect the profession from people being dishonest. I think it's very corrosive for the public to feel that the DA is not being straight with them. To this date, she has not reconciled her statements to the board of county commissioners with her conduct. And that needs to happen, one way or another."He was referring to Truden's statements to the Pitkin County commissioners on April 26. At that meeting, she said that not a single deputy district attorney or administrative staffer was escorted out before his or her scheduled last day. Multiple former employees of the 9th Judicial District have said Truden's statements to local leaders were not truthful.The recall was also sparked by the fact that she hired and paid her husband $6,000 for six weeks of computer work; allegations that she has mismanaged her budget; and the belief that cases are not being prosecuted. Truden has refuted the last charge, contending that her caseload and conviction rates are higher than her predecessor's.At Wednesday night's meeting, the group talked about petitioning at the Jazz Aspen Snowmass Labor Day Festival, which begins today. Caloia said petitioners can be at the Brush Creek parking lot but are not allowed on the festival grounds.Meanwhile, at the Aspen Community Picnic on Wednesday, Tricia McKenzie wandered through the crowd at Paepcke Park with large recall signs on her front and back."We need more bodies and more volunteers. It's a slow-go," she said.Before the picnic began, McKenzie had been standing on a Main Street corner near the park. She said she was getting about 10 names an hour - "we're not talking droves."Her involvement began about a week ago, McKenzie said."I was like everybody else: I thought this was a no-brainer, that this was a done deal," she said of the recall effort. "When I learned that they were actually falling short of what they needed and there weren't people circulating the petition at this end of the valley, I went, 'Wait a minute, I know how to do this.'"Her interest stems, she said, from what lawyers and law enforcement officials have told her about Truden.Back in Woody Creek, Ed Colby, a former Aspen Times columnist, asked whether a petition would still be accepted if the space on the form for "state" wasn't filled out. Caloia said that didn't matter, "just the city is needed."Ireland told the group he would have extra petitions and information packets at his house to disseminate when needed."We can do it," Sunny Redmond said of getting the names of 5,455 registered voters by the deadline. "We just have to make ourselves available to the people who want to sign."Chad Abraham's e-mail address is chad@aspentimes.com

Truden nay By Su Lum

August 31, 2005

There's only a couple of weeks left to sign District Attorney Colleen Truden's recall petitions, so get cracking. Exactly 5,455 valid signatures are needed, which means about 8,000 must be gathered, because you know how sloppy we are, and if the printed names are illegible, or you put the county in the date box, they will be thrown out as sure as sure can be.In Aspen, here are some places where you can find petitions:1. The Hair Company, the salon above what used to be Aspen Drug on the Hyman Avenue mall at Galena, with the bright blue trim. Some kind of timeshare operation is now in the Aspen Drug spot.2. Gracy's, which has moved to 312 E. Hyman between the old doomed Mother Lode and (long may it live) the Crystal Palace.3. Main Street Bakery on (duh) Main Street, next to Paepcke Park.4. Petitioners will be at the Aspen Community Picnic in Paepcke Park today, Wednesday, starting at 5 p.m.5. Also today, there will be a meeting at the Woody Creek Store starting at 6 p.m., where you can sign petitions, volunteer to distribute them and learn about the issues.6. Tony Hershey will be collecting signatures on the Hyman Avenue mall on Thursday and Friday, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., and you can get his story straight from the horse's mouth. He was hand-picked by Colleen Truden and valiantly refused to say a word against her until he had HAD IT with her abuse and paranoia.7. Carla Peltonen has petitions; call her at 925-2584.8. I have them and can be tracked down at 925-7839, or stop me in the street.Incredibly, the saga gets worse and worse. Katherine Steers just resigned, the seventh prosecutor to leave Truden's office, another hand-picked deputy D.A. Eleven employees have fled this sinking ship, seven of them prosecutors, and no one is at the helm unless you count Truden, who has clearly lost control of her crew.The way the recall works is this: If enough signatures are gathered, you will be asked to vote for (yes) or against (no) Truden's recall. The second question will be to vote for the candidate(s) running for D.A. in the event of Truden's recall.If the "no" votes win, Truden stays in office. If the "yes" votes win, she is recalled and whoever gets the most votes to replace her (Truden cannot be a candidate) will become the new district attorney. The only announced candidate so far is Martin Beeson, one of the seven prosecutors who resigned.

Post Independent Editorial BoardAugust 22, 2005
Some comments can be as revealing as a Las Vegas showgirl’s wardrobe.Even the state’s top lawyer questions some of 9th Judicial District Attorney Colleen Truden’s management decisions during her first seven months on the job.State Attorney General John Suthers didn’t say a lot about the embattled DA, but what he did say was loud and clear.“She clearly made a mistake in hiring her husband. ... You just don’t do that in public office,” Suthers said Friday.Concerning the staff turnover in the DA’s office, Suthers also offered a critical observation.“Given the size of the office, the level of turnover that has occurred so far appears extraordinary to me,” said Suthers, who is a Republican.When it comes to District Attorney Truden, everyone seems to have an opinion. This is one soap opera that has gotten old fast.Since the effort to recall Truden began July 12, the controversy surrounding the DA’s office and other related circumstances has continued.Most first-term DAs have hurdles to overcome and challenges to confront. But Truden’s first seven months have been rough as sandpaper.A total of nine attorneys and staff members left the DA’s office during Truden’s first few months on the job. Then came the questionable hiring of Fred Truden to do contract computer work. Colleen Truden originally said her husband wasn’t being paid, but after a check of public records, that proved to be a false statement — Fred Truden was paid $1,000 a week for six weeks.There have been questions about Truden’s budget spending, then the Garfield County Commissioners scrutinized the accounting practices within Truden’s office and recently yanked credit cards from some of Truden’s employees.The turmoil has continued lately. Attorney Tony Hershey, who was hired by Truden, offered a damaging blow to the DA’s reputation when he resigned Aug. 3. In his resignation letter, Hershey said he could not work “in an atmosphere of abuse, disrespect and outright hostility.”Then Fred Truden hopped back into the spotlight when he confronted recall supporters at Silt Heyday. He was slapped with a temporary restraining order, which was dropped a few days later. Assistant District Attorney Vince Felletter also was accused of confronting recall supporters at the Silt event.One thing after another — Truden’s first seven months have been a ridiculous ongoing saga.The recall effort reportedly has more than 3,500 signatures. To force a recall election, 5,455 valid signatures are needed by Sept. 16.Opinions will continue to vary on Truden’s job performance during her first seven months. With so many problems and so many questionable management decisions, Truden should be held accountable by the same people who voted her into office last November.Truden’s job performance should be questioned and a recall election is the best way to resolve this soap opera. The voters should have the opportunity to settle this issue and have their opinions heard.Votes always come across loud and clear.

Ex-prosecutor filing complaint against DA
Dennis WebbPost Independent StaffAugust 27, 2005
A former prosecutor in the office of District Attorney Colleen Truden said Friday she is filing an ethics complaint against Truden.In fact, Katherine Steers may have little choice.If Steers feels Truden has committed ethical transgressions, she is legally bound to report her concerns to the Colorado Supreme Court office that handles complaints against attorneys.Steers resigned from Truden's office Thursday. She accused Truden and assistant district attorney Vince Felleter of abusing their power by making prosecution decisions based on their views about defense attorneys, instead of the case itself and what's right for the defendant.John Gleason, regulation counsel for the Colorado Supreme Court, said any lawyer in Colorado who believes another attorney has engaged in an ethical violation is obligated to report it.Rule 8.3 of the Rules of Professional Conduct for Colorado attorneys reads: "A lawyer having knowledge that another lawyer has committed a violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct that raises a substantial question as to that lawyer's honesty, trustworthiness or fitness as a lawyer in other respects shall inform the appropriate professional authority."Steers said, "I have knowledge of what's going on, so I guess that puts me in the category of someone who at least requests such an investigation."Gleason said he has no opinion on the merits of Steers' allegations, but said it would be the job of the Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel to look into her concerns if she files a grievance.Said Gleason: "If that lawyer believes that this DA engaged in this conduct then she has a duty to report it."Steers said she contacted Gleason's office Friday and has begun the process of filing a complaint.Truden has not returned calls for comments since Steers went public with her concerns. In an interview Friday, Felleter said the Supreme Court office is the appropriate forum for hearing Steers' allegations."Let's have that hearing and let's let the ethics board decide if there was anything wrong. But I assure you that there's nothing there."Gleason said the Supreme Court has exclusive jurisdiction over all lawyers and judges in Colorado. He's aware of the ongoing attempt to recall Truden, but said his office's only concern is lawyers' professional conduct."The political aspects of it are of no consequence to us. We are not going to involve ourselves in any of that," he said.When grievances are filed, the response after an investigation can range from dismissal of the grievance, to suspension of the accused attorney, to disbarment. Bob Grant, executive director of the Colorado District Attorneys Council, said DAs are required to have a license to practice law.He said he's not aware of any concerns being raised to the Colorado District Attorneys Council about Truden.Gleason said he isn't allowed to say whether complaints have been filed against Truden. "I can't reveal the existence of the complaint until there's a public proceeding," he said.Those who file complaints aren't bound by the same rules of confidentiality, he said.Gleason said no public proceedings are taking place against Truden.Sherry Caloia, a Glenwood Springs attorney heading the recall drive against Truden, said others looked into the possibility of filing a grievance earlier this year because of the belief that Truden had lied about whether her husband had worked for her office. She said her understanding is that the Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel responded that unless Truden's comments were made at a recorded meeting, there was no way to go forward with the complaint and prove she lied.Gleason said while he can't address specific issues, "our burden of proof is clear and convincing evidence, so that's a pretty high burden."He said it's not unusual for the office to be told of allegations that can't be substantiated. But his office would never advise against filing a complaint, he said."Until we investigate it we don't know what kind of evidence we have," he said.Gleason said it's rarely the case that attorneys who fail to meet their duty to report concerns about other attorneys face complaints for violating the rules themselves. Still, Caloia said the requirement to report suspected violations "is a very touchy area for lawyers.""The extent of that obligation is something that all attorneys are very nervous about. It makes us have to make the call of whether or not there was a violation, and in certain cases that's difficult."In the case of Steers' allegations, politically motivated decisions would be hard to prove because so many considerations go into making plea bargain determinations, Caloia said.Contact Dennis Webb: 945-8515, ext. 516

7th prosecutor quits, cites 'hostile' setting
By Charlie Brennan, Rocky Mountain NewsAugust 26, 2005
A seventh prosecutor resigned Thursday from the 9th Judicial District Attorney's office, where first-year DA Colleen Truden is facing a possible recall vote.
Katherine Steers, a deputy district attorney assigned to the Garfield County Court in Glenwood Springs, informed Truden's human resource manager on Thursday - because Truden was not in the office - of her intention to immediately leave the job for which she'd been hired just six months ago. Steers' resignation letter cited a hostile work environment, for which she blamed Truden directly. Several prosecutors who have quit the office have cited claims of mismanagement, a hostile work environment or a lack of accountability on the part of Truden.
Truden did not return a call seeking comment. The 9th Judicial District encompasses Garfield, Pitkin and Rio Blanco counties. At full staff, Truden's office employs 11 lawyers, counting the district attorney. "I think the attorney general needs to step in," said Steers, shortly after resigning. "I'm really worried about that office. I think someone competent needs to come in and take over." Attorney General John Suthers could not be reached for comment.
Steers is a Denver native who graduated last year from Baylor Law School. She was admitted to the Colorado Bar on Oct. 25, 2004, and was sworn in as a deputy district attorney Feb. 28.
"Based on my ethical oath (of office), I can no longer be a part of what I see happening there," said Steers. "These are not the people I should be learning from."
The first five prosecutors to quit were holdovers from Truden's predecessor, the term-limited Mac Myers.
The sixth prosecutor to quit, Tony Hershey, left Aug. 3. Hershey and Steers were each hired by Truden. Both asked that their resignations be effective immediately.
Steers' letter accused Truden of "the hostile work environment that you fostered and continue to promote.
"I simply cannot work, when normal standards of respect and courteous behavior are not observed.
"Moreover, I cannot meet my obligations to our legal profession, our oath of office, and those that we serve, if I were to continue employment under such negative and hostile circumstances, all of which appear to have spiteful and harmful motivations."
A recall movement, spearheaded by Glenwood Springs attorney Sherry Caloia, was launched July 11, six months to the day that Truden took office, and the first day permissible under state law.
The recall petition specifies six charges against Truden. They allege that she has lied to public officials and the media; wasted taxpayers' money; hired her husband to assist with a computer upgrade in the office; failed to take serious felony cases to trial, resulting in dismissal or reduction of charges; and mismanaged with incompetent leadership and a lack of accountability.
brennanc@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-2742

DA’s office loses another member
A prosecutor accused District Attorney Colleen Truden of ethical improprieties Thursday evening after joining the growing list of attorneys to resign from Truden’s office.Katherine Steers said Truden abused her power by making prosecution decisions according to what defense attorneys have said publicly about the DA’s office, “instead of basing them on the case and doing what’s right for the defendant.”“It’s wrong. It’s ethically immoral,” Steers said. “I’m embarrassed that I worked for her just because of what I saw happen.”Steers also criticized Truden for filing a contempt of court charge against defense attorney Ted Hess, and said financial difficulties appeared to be hindering Truden’s willingness to take cases to trial.Truden could not be reached for comment Thursday evening.Steers submitted a letter of resignation Thursday.“I am forced to take this action at this time to remove myself both personally and professionally from the hostile work environment that you have fostered and continue to promote,” Steers wrote to Truden. “I simply cannot work where normal standards of respect and courteous behavior are not observed.“Moreover, I cannot meet my obligations to our legal profession, our oath of office and those that we serve if I were to continue employment under such negative and hostile circumstances, all of which appear to have spiteful and harmful motivations.”Steers joins a chorus of ex-employees who say working conditions under Truden are intolerable.“It’s like a broken record. It’s the same song, over and over, the same lines,” said Martin Beeson, another former prosecutor for Truden, who is helping lead an effort to recall Truden.Steers is the seventh prosecutor to leave Truden’s office since Truden took over as DA at the start of the year, Beeson said. She is at least the 11th staff member to leave under Truden. Steers is the second attorney hired by Truden to resign. The first was Tony Hershey, who also has raised concerns about how Truden runs her office.Steers said she was friends with Hershey, and she was treated differently after Hershey quit.“Ever since Tony left it’s been hell for me,” she said. “… I was painted in the enemy’s corner because I was friends with Tony.”She said Truden told her she was still part of the DA office team, but she felt isolated and Truden had little contact with her.“It got to a point where it was unbearable.”Steers, 28, is a Baylor University graduate who started with Truden at the end of February, in what was her first full-time legal job out of law school.“I thought, ‘Wow, what a great opportunity, what a great area, what great people to work with.’”She had no idea then about the controversy surrounding Truden’s office.“I had no clue,” she said. “And then when I got in, at first I was like, these people who were leaving just don’t like the change. She’s a new person, give her a chance, it will work out.”She said she assumed Truden had just made a few mistakes and would correct them, but that turned out not to be the case.“The longer I stayed, the more I knew. When I became knowledgeable of the stuff going on in that office, for my own professional well-being I had to leave. … I realized, ‘Oh my God, what they’re printing in the papers is absolutely true.’”She said assistant DA Vince Felleter is the only prosecutor with prosecutorial experience in the Glenwood Springs office, and didn’t communicate with her.“I know that that’s not a place that I can grow professionally,” Steers said. “I thought that this isn’t the lawyer I want to be.”Steers said she loved her job, and working with defense attorneys and judges.But ultimately, “Knowing what I know, I feel like I’m responsible for part of it if I stay, like I’m endorsing it, and I don’t want any part of it,” she said.She said prosecutors are unable to do their job because Truden and Felleter are “obsessed with the political climate.” She said they “locked themselves in their office for two hours just to go through the (news)papers.”She said they threatened defense attorneys with bad plea deals on cases if they didn’t cooperate with the DA’s office, and good treatment “as long as they didn’t speak out against the office in the paper.”Steers said when she went to Felleter with questions about how to handle cases, he would ask what defense attorney was handling the case. Those who didn’t say anything bad in the press were offered better deals for their clients.She said what Truden did violates national standards for how prosecutors should handle plea bargains, and personal considerations between attorneys should not dictate how defendants are treated. She said the charge against Hess resulted from the fact that Felleter doesn’t like Hess.“To use the power of our office to serve somebody with a summons and complaint, for another attorney to intimidate him, I don’t know what his intent was other than to hurt him,” Steers said.Hess was charged after exchanging harsh words with deputy DA Billie Burchfield in court. He has pleaded not guilty to the charge and described it as “bullying.”Felleter could not be reached for comment Thursday evening.Steers said Felleter is overworked.“I think it’s a volatile situation to put someone (into Felleter’s job) with a hot temper anyway, and then overwork them,” she said.Steers worries about how Truden’s office will manage taking over her cases. She said only three attorneys are left in the Glenwood Springs office, not counting Truden, who hasn’t handled anything in court. Truden has been criticized for her lack of prosecution experience.This week, Truden defended her work as DA by saying felony convictions in the 9th Judicial District are up 8 percent so far this year, compared to the same time period last year under former DA Mac Myers. Felony filings in Garfield County are up 58 percent, she said.But Steers said she saw a lot of felony cases pleaded down to lower charges for sentencing. She said Felleter has taken only one case to trial. She said her understanding is that more cases aren’t going to trial because of a lack of money to prosecute them and pay for expert witnesses.Truden has gone over her budget so far this year.Steers took three cases to trial herself.“I was very excited to go to trial. I was ready to go for it, I enjoyed it,” she said.She said she lost all three cases, but they were tough ones that would have been difficult even for experienced prosecutors to win.Said Beeson, “I know (Steers) was young and green when she first came on, but she was eager, she was a hard worker and she was a fighter.”He said it’s his understanding that after he left, she was one of the few prosecutors “who had the courage to go to trial.”He’s not surprised she quit.“I just knew it would be just a matter of time before she realized if she wanted to lose her reputation and professionalism, the way to do that is to stay with this administration.”Steers said she has no job lined up. Beeson said five of the seven attorneys to leave Truden’s office, himself included, have had no other jobs waiting for them.“It rings a bell loud and clear when people are resigning with nothing to fall back on,” he said.Recall petitioners have until Sept. 16 to raise the required 5,455 qualified signatures to force a recall election. They have about 4,000 now, and Beeson thinks they’ll need about 7,500 or 8,000, to allow for signatures that will be disqualified.He’s confident the petition drive won’t fall short. He said recall leader Sherry Caloia was flooded with calls from people wanting to help out after articles appeared in the Post Independent and Aspen Times Thursday describing the challenge that remains in meeting the signature threshold.“I think when (Steers’) resignation becomes public knowledge … I think it’s going to convince a lot of people who are on the fence,” he said.Contact Dennis Webb: 945-8515, ext. 516dwebb@postindependent.com

Time to Recall Sheriff Vallario?

Supporter: Recall tough on Truden

More From News

By Chad AbrahamSeptember 1, 2005

The recall campaign has been a hard road for District Attorney Colleen Truden, affecting her personally and professionally, one of her supporters said.Garfield County Sheriff Lou Vallario, who campaigned for her during last summer's primary election, said Truden feels as if she's being attacked."I think personally it's bothering her a lot," he said. "Professionally, I would say it's creating difficulty because she's spending so much time being diverted from what she should be doing" by freedom of information requests and other recall issues.He said as a friend it was hard to see her go through the process of being recalled. But Vallario said he also has other problems with the campaign to remove her from office."I like her. I think she's going to do a good job once all the dust settles," he said. "I'm more concerned about the whole recall process in general, more than it's just specifically toward her."He said that as an elected official, he is concerned that anyone can start a recall campaign against himself, for instance, "for no apparent reason.""Why do we have elections if ... I fire somebody who's upset with me and they go out and start a recall campaign against me because they don't like the way they were treated?" he asked. "That's my concern."Asked if he thought there was anything about the recall effort that may be justified, he said, "You know, I don't. I think that everything that's on [the petition] can be answered. All I would say - and I'm not at all apologizing for Colleen. It's her issues to deal with - but having kind of been there, done that [as] a newly elected official in a new position, yeah, I stumbled and made some bad choices and decisions, too."He said the key is recognizing poor decisions and correcting them.While he gives Truden advice, Vallario conceded that "the wheels are in motion" for a recall."You really can't undo it. We're just going to have to see how it shakes out, whether enough signatures get filed or not," he said. "Obviously she has to get in more of a campaign mode again." Chad Abraham's e-mail address is chad@aspentimes.com

Deputy DA deems defense attorney conduct disorderly
Friday, August 12, 2005
By MIKE McKIBBIN
The Daily Sentinel
RIFLE — A Glenwood Springs defense attorney could face a disorderly conduct charge for arguing with a prosecutor from the 9th Judicial District Attorney’s Office last month in Garfield County court in Rifle.
The incident comes during an ongoing recall petition drive against District Attorney Colleen Truden. Earlier in the week, Truden’s husband, Fred, was issued a temporary restraining order for allegedly disrupting petition efforts at a festival in a Silt park. He faces a hearing on the matter today.
Attorney Ted Hess, a critic of both Truden and former District Attorney Mac Myers, faces the possible disorderly conduct charge after a July 15 dispute with deputy District Attorney Billie Burchfield during and after a hearing on a harassment case.
Hess was in a jury trial Thursday and unavailable for comment, an office spokeswoman said, but he filed a motion this week to seek Burchfield’s removal from the case.
In his motion, Hess said Burchfield announced during her closing argument that she was filing amended charges against his client. After Burchfield “threw the amended summons and complaint” on Hess’ desk, she “continually tapped on the amended complaint with her fingers,” Hess’ motion said.
Burchfield appeared increasingly upset during the hearing, and her hands and body seemed to shake at times, Hess said in the motion.
After the hearing, Hess said he asked Burchfield why she “was doing this, or words to that effect. Ms. Burchfield then responded that she was taking this case personally and that she was personally offended.”
Hess responded that “I think you will regret it, or words to that effect,” the motion said.
When Hess approached Burchfield outside the courtroom, he again asked Burchfield what she thought she was doing, and “a vigorous discussion ensued” before Hess left, the motion said.
Truden could not be reached for comment Thursday, and she has a policy that forbids her deputies from speaking to the news media.
A judge removed Burchfield from the harassment case Wednesday, and the District Attorney’s office voluntarily removed itself from prosecuting Hess’ disorderly conduct charge because Burchfield is listed as the victim.
A special prosecutor from Routt County will have to prove that Hess “engaged in a coarse and obviously offensive utterance, gesture or display in a public place,” according to the definition of disorderly conduct in state statutes.
If convicted, a disorderly conduct charge carries a penalty of up to six months in jail and a $500 fine, plus other costs. A hearing on the charge is scheduled for Aug. 17.
Mike McKibbin can be reached via e-mail at mmckibbin@gjds.com.

Judge issues a restraining order against DA’s husband
By Donna GrayFred Truden, husband of 9th District Attorney Colleen Truden, allegedly ran afoul of a recall volunteer at Silt’s annual Heyday celebration Saturday.A judge issued a restraining order against him Monday at the behest of Christina Chapin who alleges Fred Truden accosted her while she was collecting signatures on a petition to recall his wife.An Eagle County judge signed the restraining order, reportedly because 9th Judicial District judges recused themselves because of their involvement with the district attorney’s office.Chapin is married to James Leuthauser, a former deputy district attorney who worked for Colleen Truden’s predecessor Mac Myers.According to a statement on the application for the restraining order, Chapin, of Glenwood Springs, was collecting signatures on the petition “when an irate man came up and started screaming at me. He said he was Fred Truden, Colleen’s husband, and demanded to know what I thought I was doing. He was very angry and was screaming that I was a liar and full of lies.”Chapin said she feared for her safety and walked away from Fred Truden, who followed her for a short distance. Although “somewhat rattled,” she continued to collect signatures. After circulating through Silt’s Veterans Park a man came up to sign her petition and “Fred Truden came up and began yelling at the man signing and myself. He demanded to know why the man would sign it. He was screaming and was very hostile and angry,” Chapin said in her statement.According to Chapin, Fred Truden and the petition signer, whom she identified as Brian Snode, of Silt, got into an argument. She said she “told Fred that neither I nor anyone else at the park were going to allow him to intimidate us. I asked him to please try to be professional.” Snode then contacted Silt police, Chapin said.On Tuesday, the Post Independent reported that Silt police chief Paul Taylor said, “It wasn’t even an incident. It was nothing,” after receiving the report.Snode confirmed Chapin's account of Truden's angry encounter with him.“He was very agitated. He asked me why I was signing the petition and I said it was my right as a citizen. He said, ‘Do you know the facts?’”Snode replied that it was none of his business. Snode said he ran into Taylor in the park and told him about the incident and asked him to escort Truden out of the park. Taylor chose not to eject Truden.Fred Truden was unavailable for comment.The incident left Chapin shaken. “I felt … very fearful for my safety,” she said.However, she continued to collect signatures in the park, leaving about 2 p.m.“I felt it was very important to remain … despite feeling intimidated. Although I felt Mr. Truden’s behavior was inappropriate and out of control, I also felt it was important not to let his bully tactics succeed.”In a phone interview Tuesday, Chapin said her efforts to collect signatures for the petition have gone very well. So far, about 3,000 signatures have been collected, said Sherry Caloia, a Glenwood Springs attorney who is organizing the recall. A total of 5,455 signatures, or 25 percent of the votes for Colleen Truden during the 2004 election, are required to mount the recall. In addition to passing petitions at Silt Heyday, volunteers also passed petitions in Aspen this past weekend.According to the restraining order, Fred Truden must keep a distance of at least 25 yards from Chapin and have no contact with her either directly or through a third party.A hearing on the order is set for 10 a.m. Friday in county court.

DA’s spouse in hot water after spat over recall

By By MIKE McKIBBIN The Daily Sentinel
Thursday, August 11, 2005
GLENWOOD SPRINGS — The husband of 9th Judicial District Attorney Colleen Truden was issued a temporary restraining order after he allegedly tried last weekend in Silt to disrupt a volunteer gathering signatures on a petition to recall his wife.
Fred Truden, according to court records, allegedly became irate when he saw Christina Chapin of Glenwood Springs collecting signatures at Silt’s annual Hey Day festival on Saturday.
Chapin told officers Truden identified himself and “demanded to know what I was doing. He was very angry and screamed that I was a liar and full of lies.”
Chapin is married to former deputy DA Jim Leuthauser, who worked for Mac Myers, Colleen Truden’s predecessor. Several former deputy prosecutors for Myers have volunteered to help the recall effort.
Chapin said she worried about her safety and tried to walk away from Fred Truden, who followed her and started to yell at Brian Snode of Silt as he signed a petition.
Snode contacted Silt police and Chapin continued to collect signatures until the early afternoon.
Eagle County Judge Frederick Gannett approved the temporary restraining order that requires Fred Truden to stay away from Chapin, after judges in the 9th Judicial District declined to act since they consider cases handled by the DA’s office.
Neither Fred nor Colleen Truden could be reached for comment Wednesday.
A hearing is set for Friday morning at the Garfield County Courthouse in Glenwood Springs to determine if the restraining order will remain in place.
“I will be there, and I’ll have numerous witnesses that were at the park when this happened,” Chapin said Wednesday.
Recall backers claim Colleen Truden should be removed from office due to dishonesty, nepotism, a lack of prosecution of cases since Truden was sworn into office on Jan. 11 through the time the petitions were approved by the Colorado Secretary of State last month, misuse of taxpayers money, mismanagement of her office environment and a lack of accountability.
Colleen Truden paid her husband approximately $6,000 for computer work he did in her office while a private company was under contract for the work.
Mike McKibbin can be reached via e-mail at mmckibbin@gjds.com.

Time to sign a recall petition

By Su LumAugust 10, 2005 Print EmailThe last time I voted to recall anyone from public office was, if I recall correctly, in the early '70s when the electorate ousted Bill Comcowich from the Aspen City Council, so I'm not one to jump quickly onto any recall bandwagon.However, the situation in the district attorney's office has gotten so far out of hand that it is clear that a house-cleaning is definitely in order and Colleen Truden must be replaced.This is our district attorney, for godsake, the upholder of truth, order, justice and fair trials for everyone in Pitkin, Garfield and Rio Blanco counties, and what is coming out of that office is disorder, chaos, mistruths, secrecy, miscarriages of justice and a whole lot of denial.As late as July 10, when the Aspen Times Weekly ran a cover story on Colleen Truden to give her side of the story, she was still saying of the recall effort, "I think it's limited to a couple of individuals and we'll see where it goes."Asked if she had considered resigning, she said, "Absolutely not," referring to "a couple of people calling me names."She blamed the media, "They put it in there to stir up controversy to sell newspapers. It's one of those things (when) you go, 'Why talk?' Because it's not going to be printed accurately." To sell our free newspapers?I'm a big believer in the power of the press, but I know the press doesn't have the power to whip up a story like this one on the basis of a couple of dissenters. Colleen Truden has her head in the sand and over 2,000 recall signatures have already been gathered in support of her recall and they've barely tapped Aspen/Snowmass yet. When I've asked people close to the story if the press exaggerated the facts they've said, "No, it's much WORSE!" Then there's the Tony Hershey factor. Tony Hershey is as Republican as you can get, and it seemed quite fitting that he would have been chosen by Colleen Truden to work in her office. He could also have been her best spokesperson when the excrement hit the fan and her ex-employees were streaming out of her office like lemmings to the sea.Instead, he was under gag rule and could only say, "I can't talk to you guys." Well, he's talking now.Secrecy and paranoia rule in the district attorney's office. Even during the primary, Colleen Truden refused to debate Lawson Wills, convinced that silence was her best offense. Now, you need to get out there and find those petitions. Better yet, put them in your shops where people can easily find you or help man tables around town.You can sign them at The Hair Company, 420 East Hyman in Aspen, at the Snowmass Village Community Picnic next Saturday from 5-9 p.m. in Snowmass Community Park, at the Ducky Derby on Saturday in Rio Grande Park from 10 a.m. on (look for the "recall petition" T-shirts) and in the Clark's Market mall today from 2-4 p.m. Call Carla Peltonen at 925-2584 (or e-mail c.peltonen@comcast.net) for information or to volunteer.Call Sherry Caloia at 945-6067 (or e-mail scaloia@sopris.net) if you'd be willing to circulate petitions - we need a lot more of them. Su Lum (su@rof.net) is a longtime local who will be keeping her nose clean. This column appears every Wednesday in The Aspen Times.

Prosecutor quits, cites 'outright hostility'
By Ellen Miller, Special to the NewsAugust 5, 2005
A deputy district attorney hired by Glenwood Springs District Attorney Colleen Truden resigned this week, citing an "atmosphere of abuse, disrespect and outright hostility.''
"You can rule with fear for a time . . . It worked in czarist Russia for hundreds of years, but I am not a serf . . . and you are not a Russian empress," attorney Tony Hershey wrote in his resignation letter Wednesday.
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He is the sixth prosecutor to quit the office this year and the first hired by Truden to leave.
Truden, who took office in January, is the target of a recall petition circulating in Garfield, Pitkin and Rio Blanco counties, which make up the 9th Judicial District. The petition accuses Truden of dishonesty, wasting taxpayer money, nepotism by hiring her husband to do computer work, not prosecuting serious felony cases and a lack of accountability.
Hershey, a former assistant prosecutor in New York and former Aspen City Council member, said he was introduced to Truden by Garfield County Sheriff Lou Vallario. He said she offered him a job after she was elected.
At first, Hershey was a supporter of Truden, he said, but tension grew among him, Truden and Assistant District Attorney Vince Felleter.
Truden, in an e-mail response Thursday to a request for comment, said that prosecution is difficult and challenging, and that "added pressures from outside the office have only made it more difficult. Individuals handle emotional pressures differently. We are sorry to see Tony go and we wish him the best."
Felleter declined comment.
Hershey said Felleter took him on a walk on July 25 "and told me things I had to fix. One of them was talking to reporters; we weren't supposed to do that. I also was too friendly with the staff, and he said you can't trust them, things like that. I'd talked to a county commissioner and he said I shouldn't have done that."
Earlier this week, Hershey said, he was talking with Jim Leuthauser, a former deputy district attorney who now works as a defense attorney, about a juvenile case they were handling and "when Felleter saw us, he blew up."
At a staff meeting Tuesday evening, "Felleter continued belittling me in front of the others. I said I was leaving because I'd say something I shouldn't unless I did. I thought I was fired right then."
He called in sick Wednesday and later that day faxed his resignation.

Commissioners cancel DA’s credit cards
Wednesday, August 03, 2005
By MIKE McKIBBIN
The Daily Sentinel
GLENWOOD SPRINGS — A lack of proper accounting practices caused Garfield County to recently cancel 10 credit cards issued to 9th Judicial District Attorney Colleen Truden.
However, county commissioners approved a nearly $406,000 supplemental budget for Truden. She also requested and received $191,000 in supplemental funds from Pitkin and Rio Blanco counties, the other two counties in the 9th district.
County officials criticized Truden, the subject of a petition drive to recall her from office, for spending more than half her annual budget in her first six months in office.
County Finance Director Patsy Hernandez, in a letter to Truden, said the office had used Visa cards issued to staff members in January, when she took office. While the county paid the bills for those cards through June,
Hernandez said the relevant Visa receipts had not been copied and forwarded to the finance department, as required by county rules.
County Administrator Ed Green said that by the end of June, Truden’s office had spent $546,467 of the county’s budget share of $736,072 for this year.
Truden could not be reached for comment Tuesday, but reportedly may ask for another supplemental budget for an unbudgeted $44,000 rent payment.
The credit card issue arose after Truden asked the county to help with her office’s accounting, Green said. That gave the county more oversight of her financial records.
Truden has agreed to handle her credit cards within the office budget, Green said. That removes any county financial liability.
Mike McKibbin can be reached via e-mail at mmckibbin@gjds.com.

Former DA accuses Truden of 'lies'
By Troy Hooper/Aspen Daily News Staff Writer

Former District Attorney Mac Myers blasted Colleen Truden on Wednesday, accusing his beleaguered successor of demonstrating a "lack of honesty and cluelessness about the job" in an e-mail sent to commissioners in Garfield, Pitkin and Rio Blanco counties.

"It has come to my attention that Colleen is blaming her budget problems on my administration. I feel like all of you, the county commissioners for the counties in the 9th Judicial District, need to hear from me," Myers wrote in the e-mail, which the Aspen Daily News obtained Thursday. "We went out of our way to affect a smooth transition and all we got in return was peevishness, procrastination, and condescension sprinkled with misrepresentations and lies."

Truden's budget came under attack after a Colorado Open Records request revealed that she paid her husband's company, Mediate It Inc., over $1,000 a week for six weeks to work on problems that two other computer companies were also getting paid to fix; she spent over $15,000 on a controversial expansion and remodel of her office; and exhausted $21,759 to replace a server that Myers and others said worked just fine. During this time, Truden withheld an already approved cost-of-living pay increase from her employees for several months.

The new district attorney is also accused of lying to county commissioners, telling them that "not one" of the five prosecutors who recently resigned from her office was asked to leave prior to their scheduled departures and that none of them were escorted out of their offices. Her story contradicts other prosecutors.

Truden is scheduled to meet with Garfield County commissioners next month.

At least two downvalley attorneys have implored Truden to resign, as her detractors prepare for a recall effort scheduled to get under way July 11.

In recent interviews, Truden has deflected some of the criticism of her finances to Myers, claiming that he left her budget in a lurch with a stack of outstanding bills and other expenses she alleges have caused her problems. Truden did not return a phone message seeking comment Thursday.

The 9th Judicial District's county commissioners received a 1,393-word e-mail from Myers that methodically disputes Truden's allegations against his office.

"We made and kept copies of our financial records for 2004 and if you would like to see what kind of shape they were in when we closed the 2004 books, I would be happy to make them available to any of you who want to see them," Myers wrote. "Further, we left those records with Colleen in banker's boxes along with copies of every check written stapled to the voucher and invoice or other document supporting the expenditure. We also provided her with bank statements from every account with reconciliation statements attached to each bank statement. They were left in the administrator's office and I personally pointed them out to both Colleen and her administrator Robin Steffan the evening of January 10 when we turned the office over to Colleen," he wrote.

The e-mail takes exception with Truden's allegations point by point.

Reached at the 22nd Judicial District in southern Colorado, where he moved after term limits forced him out of the 9th Judicial District, Myers, who is now a deputy district attorney for one of his former employees, declined to comment. He said he did not intend for the e-mail to be made public and he did not wish to speak about Truden's tribulations, other than to defend the work of his office.

His e-mail to the county commissioners emphasized that same message.

"While I am content to let Colleen's problems play themselves out, I will not allow my administration to be a scapegoat for her mismanagement," Myers wrote.

hoop@aspendailynews.com

YOU Dem-o-rats just have sour grapes!! Colleen has kept her promises!!!

She said she would have an open door policy. She spent thousands on a new spacious entryway. Her beautiful, new, Open door - don't you understand?
She said she would work closely with law enforcement. The whole community knows how close she and Lou are...What do you people want!?
She said she would make it harder for bad check writers. Don't you think all this mess in the press has been hard for the bad check writer that wrote several for Fred? You people are never happy.
She said she would protect this community. I feel safer already. Under your old guy all we read about were court cases and trials of criminals and stuff. Now, she obviously cleared the courts and the bad guys are obviously scared to do anything because she's so tough on crime.
She said she would be tough on domestic violence. And to prove it she brought in that Vince Fellator guy. He has harrassment experience.
You are just jealous. get over it. Like John Martin said 'She's a fun lady to be around'.

RECALL INTERVIEW ON SATURDAY - - RADIO DETALS TO FOLLOW

Remove Truden Now!

Three former deputies say Colleen Truden is lying. Their allegations must be investigated immediately.If they are found to be true, Truden should be removed from her job. The citizens of the 9th Judicial District should not have to wait to recall her.It's bad enough that Truden has lost five of six experienced prosecutors because of her management style. But if she has lied in testimony to the Pitkin County commissioners, then she has tainted her office and every case it prosecutes - every conviction will be subject to appeal on the grounds that the DA is a liar. That is a recipe for a breakdown of law and order, and it is intolerable.

Dave ReedCarbondale

Truden Ethics Violations

Truden may have violated state rules
Supreme Court mandates honesty from attorneys
District Attorney Colleen Truden may have violated state rules regarding the conduct of attorneys.By Chad AbrahamMay 10, 2005

District Attorney Colleen Truden may have violated state rules governing lawyers’ conduct when she spoke to the commissioners from two counties about the dismissals of employees and the hiring of her husband.Lawyers in Colorado must abide by the honesty requirements of the state Supreme Court’s rules of professional conduct. District attorneys are held to the same standards.“They’re not any different than any other lawyer,” said John Gleason, the Supreme Court’s regulation counsel. The court’s Offices of Attorney Regulation governs the state’s judges and district attorneys, along with other lawyers.The section on the rules of misconduct lists multiple ways an attorney can violate the code.“It is professional misconduct for a lawyer to engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation,” rule 8.4 states.At an April 26 meeting, Truden told Pitkin County officials that not a single deputy district attorney or administrative staffer was escorted out before their scheduled last day. Multiple former employees of the 9th Judicial District have said that Truden’s statements to local leaders were not truthful.Last week, she told Garfield County commissioners that her husband was hired as a stopgap to work on computers in the district’s office in Glenwood Springs. Truden said he was contracted because the county’s computer systems manager didn’t have time to work on the district’s software and that a private company’s fee was too expensive.But according to records obtained by Glenwood Springs attorney Sherry Caloia, Truden was paying a private firm.The records show the office paid Mediate It Inc. $6,032.50 for six weeks of work. Frederick Truden is the registered agent of that firm, according to the Colorado Secretary of State’s office. At the same time payments were being made to Mediate It Inc., the office paid another computer company nearly $9,000 for some services that were similar or identical to what Frederick Truden performed.“She’s lied,” Caloia said yesterday. Truden did not answer a message left at her home yesterday seeking comment.Asked at the Pitkin County meeting whether her husband worked in the office in Glenwood Springs, she said, “My husband is not an employee on the payroll of the office of the district attorney.” She added that “he does provide some services [in the office] and does some volunteer work.”Gleason said nepotism-related cases could be the subject of an investigation by his office. Hiring a spouse does not violate the conduct standards, but allegations of dishonesty are always taken seriously, he noted.“There are rules regarding honesty and the way you deal with the public or anyone. Lawyers have to be honest 100 percent of the time,” Gleason said. “If there are issues of honesty, we investigate those.”When told about Truden’s payments to both her husband and the other computer company, DeskTop Consulting Inc., Gleason said he could not comment on specific cases.But he did say “if you have a case like that, that involves a lawyer’s duty of honesty, those are all the kinds of cases that we investigate.”Caloia said she had thought long and hard about filing a formal complaint with the Offices of Attorney Regulation, but has not done so. No one else to her knowledge has, either, she said.“If someone has a concern about any lawyer, all they have to do is call this office and we’d be delighted to conduct an investigation,” Gleason said. He would not reveal whether his office has received any complaints about Truden, saying that preliminary investigations are confidential.“It’s very, very serious when you’re going after somebody’s license,” Caloia said.Pitkin County Commissioner Mick Ireland was at that April 26 meeting. He said he has not filed a complaint with the Supreme Court.“I don’t anticipate doing so, but I anticipate that might be happening regardless of my participation,” Ireland said.Asked whether Truden’s comments to him and the other commissioners warranted a Supreme Court investigation, Ireland said, “I haven’t made an assessment of that. I was disappointed that those comments appeared to deviate from the facts as she knew them.“You have to understand, I’m not used to having to deal with that sort of issue,” he said. “Most people who come before us, even the ones we don’t agree with, are generally honest. And when they’re not, of course, we’re always very unhappy.”Both Caloia and Gleason said anyone can file a complaint with the state Supreme Court against a judge, lawyer or district attorney.If an investigation is launched, the attorney by law must cooperate with inquiry-related requests, Gleason said.“This is an office of the Supreme Court. We do anything we need to do,” he said. “If we need to subpoena records, we subpoena records, and if we need to depose people, we depose people.”Those found to have violated the conduct rules are sanctioned. The penalty depends on the severity of the offense and could range from going through a diversion program to disbarment.“[Penalties are] very specific with regard to the nature of misconduct, the nature of the harm and whether the lawyer has any prior discipline history,” Gleason said.After an investigation, the Offices of Attorney Regulation will make public any violations of rules.Rule 8.4 on misconduct also includes a commentary section by the ethics committee of the Colorado Bar Association.“Although a lawyer is personally answerable to the entire criminal law, a lawyer should be professionally answerable only for offenses that indicate a lack of those characteristics relevant to law practice,” the rule says. “Offenses involving violence, dishonesty, breach of trust or serious interference with the administration of justice are in that category.“A pattern of repeated offenses, even ones of minor significance when considered separately, can indicate indifference to legal obligation.”The closing paragraph of the commentary says, “Lawyers holding public office assume legal responsibilities going beyond those of other citizens. A lawyer’s abuse of public office can suggest an inability to fulfill the professional role of attorney.”Chad Abraham’s e-mail address is chad@aspentimes.com

Supreme Court says attorneys must be honest
District Attorney Colleen Truden may have violated state rules governing lawyers' conduct when she spoke to the commissioners from two counties about the dismissals of employees and the hiring of her husband.At an April 26 meeting, Truden told Pitkin County officials that not a single deputy district attorney or administrative staffer was escorted out before his or her scheduled last day. Multiple former employees of the 9th Judicial District have said that Truden's statements to local leaders were not truthful.Last week, she told Garfield County Commissioners that her husband was hired as a stopgap to work on computers in the district's office in Glenwood Springs. Truden said she contracted him because the county's computer systems manager didn't have time to work on the district's software and that a private company's fee was too expensive.But according to records Glenwood Springs attorney Sherry Caloia obtained, Truden was paying a private firm.The records show the office paid Mediate It Inc. $6,032.50 for six weeks of work. Frederick Truden is the registered agent of that firm, according to the Colorado Secretary of State's office. At the same time payments were being made to Mediate It Inc., the office paid another computer company nearly $9,000 for some services similar or identical to what Frederick Truden performed."She's lied," Caloia said Monday.Truden did not answer a message left at her home yesterday seeking comment.Lawyers in Colorado must abide by the honesty requirements of the state Supreme Court's rules of professional conduct. District attorneys must meet the same standards."They're not any different than any other lawyer," said John Gleason, the Supreme Court's regulation counsel. The court's Offices of Attorney Regulation governs the state's judges and district attorneys, along with other lawyers.The section on the rules of misconduct lists multiple ways an attorney can violate the code."It is professional misconduct for a lawyer to engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation," rule 8.4 states.At the meeting with the Pitkin County Commissioners, Truden also denied that the assistant district attorney she hired was the subject of an investigation into his alleged harassment of co-workers at a previous job. Asked at the meeting whether her husband worked in the office in Glenwood Springs, she said, "My husband is not an employee on the payroll of the office of the district attorney." She added that "he does provide some services (in the office) and does some volunteer work."Gleason said nepotism-related cases could be the subject of an investigation by his office. Hiring a spouse does not violate the conduct standards, but allegations of dishonesty are always taken seriously, he noted."There are rules regarding honesty and the way you deal with the public or anyone. Lawyers have to be honest 100 percent of the time," Gleason said. "If there are issues of honesty, we investigate those."When told about Truden's payments to both her husband and the other computer company, DeskTop Consulting Inc., Gleason said he could not comment on specific cases.But he did say "if you have a case like that, that involves a lawyer's duty of honesty, those are all the kinds of cases that we investigate."Caloia said she had thought long and hard about filing a formal complaint with the Offices of Attorney Regulation, but has not done so. No one else to her knowledge has, either, she said."If someone has a concern about any lawyer, all they have to do is call this office and we'd be delighted to conduct an investigation," Gleason said. He would not reveal whether his office has received any complaints about Truden, saying that preliminary investigations are confidential."It's very, very serious when you're going after somebody's license," Caloia said.Pitkin County Commissioner Mick Ireland was at that April 26 meeting. He said he has not filed a complaint with the Supreme Court."I don't anticipate doing so, but I anticipate that might be happening regardless of my participation," Ireland said.Asked whether Truden's comments to him and the other commissioners warranted a Supreme Court investigation, Ireland said, "I haven't made an assessment of that. I was disappointed that those comments appeared to deviate from the facts as she knew them."You have to understand, I'm not used to having to deal with that sort of issue," he said. "Most people who come before us, even the ones we don't agree with, are generally honest. And when they're not, of course, we're always very unhappy."Both Caloia and Gleason said anyone can file a complaint with the state Supreme Court against a judge, lawyer or district attorney.If an investigation is launched, the attorney by law must cooperate with inquiry-related requests, Gleason said."This is an office of the Supreme Court. We do anything we need to do," he said. "If we need to subpoena records, we subpoena records, and if we need to depose people, we depose people."Those found to have violated the conduct rules are sanctioned. The penalty depends on the severity of the offense and could range from going through a diversion program to disbarment."(Penalties are) very specific with regard to the nature of misconduct, the nature of the harm and whether the lawyer has any prior discipline history," Gleason said.After an investigation, the Offices of Attorney Regulation will make public any violations of rules.Rule 8.4 on misconduct also includes a commentary section by the ethics committee of the Colorado Bar Association."Although a lawyer is personally answerable to the entire criminal law, a lawyer should be professionally answerable only for offenses that indicate a lack of those characteristics relevant to law practice," the rule says. "Offenses involving violence, dishonesty, breach of trust or serious interference with the administration of justice are in that category."A pattern of repeated offenses, even ones of minor significance when considered separately, can indicate indifference to legal obligation."The closing paragraph of the commentary says, "Lawyers holding public office assume legal responsibilities going beyond those of other citizens. A lawyer's abuse of public office can suggest an inability to fulfill the professional role of attorney."

McInnis stands by his Woman!

“Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.” William Shakespeare

Former political and business enemy Scott McInnis in a vain attempt to gain support for his failed gubernatorial race is now defending District Attorney Colleen Truden’s unethical conduct and betrayal of the public trust. At least Scott is not using his state office against the Division of Wildlife to gain advantage in a shady unethical land deal again. He has no office to abuse anymore.

McInnis: Attacks on DA 'self serving'By Troy Hooper/Aspen Daily News Staff Writer

Not long after 9th Judicial District Attorney Colleen Truden won the district attorney election last fall, former U.S. Rep. Scott McInnis (R-Colo.) phoned Truden to congratulate her, wish her luck and offer her a few words of advice.
Now McInnis says he wishes his former employee had listened better.
"I would have put my team in place on day one," the former six-term representative of Colorado's 3rd Congressional District said he told Truden. "People are pretty unforgiving when you beat their candidate. There can be a lot of backbiting. It's politics."
McInnis, who decided not to seek reelection last year, currently is a partner with the Denver law firm Hogan & Hartson LLP. He is mulling a bid for governor in 2006.
In a telephone interview Monday, McInnis said he has been following the press coverage of the controversies swirling around Truden's administration. Truden once worked for McInnis when he had a law practice in Glenwood Springs.
Political observers say McInnis' endorsement of Truden last year played a vital part in her triumph, thanks to his popularity in Garfield and Rio Blanco counties, which, along with Pitkin, make up the 9th Judicial District.
When Truden took office Jan. 11, McInnis, who now lives in Grand Junction, said he believes she should have graciously overhauled her prosecutorial roster. But after Truden beat then-Assistant District Attorney Lawson Wills in a bitter Republican primary in August, she kept several of the same prosecutors who worked with Wills and then-District Attorney Mac Myers, who was term-limited.
"Although campaign opponents assured divisive turmoil and significant employee turnover, DA-elect Truden retained current deputies and support staff wishing to maintain employment. All personnel changes only fill vacancies created by individuals choosing to seek other opportunities," read a press release Truden issued to local newspapers just two weeks before she took office.
In the months that followed, five prosecutors resigned. Most of them cited philosophical differences with Truden and a suffocating office atmosphere as reasons for their departures. Truden has also come under fire for hiring her husband for computer-related services, questionable spending, failed campaign promises, and for hiring a lead prosecutor with a checkered past in Mesa County.
A recall effort is under way. At least two attorneys, one a former deputy district attorney who worked for Truden, have publicly called for her resignation.
"(Former DA) Mac Myers' had intense loyalty from his staff. When you take out the popular guy, you're not going to win the support of his team. It's expected. Mac's people worked for Colleen's opponent. They're not going to be your pals. ... (The decision to keep existing staff) is going to continue to haunt you because these people's interests don't match yours," McInnis said.
He added: "My guess is these (political attacks) are self serving."
Most of her ex-prosecutors say that Truden reneged on agreements they had with her to stay on and finish their cases. They say Truden ordered her two most trusted confidantes to lead them off the premises in a degrading manner.
"Most businesses do that. When you have somebody unhappy with you, you walk that person to the door. That's what banks do, that's what law firms do. That's not unusual in the business," said McInnis.
One of the first members of Truden's team that she personally selected is Vincent Felletter, a former prosecutor in Mesa County who has been accused of harassing coworkers to the point that one of them began carrying a gun to work.
"There's no substance to any of that. All that is somebody trying to throw mud on Colleen," said McInnis.
He also said Truden should have never made a campaign promise to implement an Open Door Policy, under which all calls and inquiries would be answered.
In recent weeks, Truden and her staff have not returned phone messages left by the Aspen Daily News, The Denver Post, the Rocky Mountain News and other media.
"Why show up for a beating?" McInnis asked.
McInnis said he hasn't been following press coverage "day to day" and was not aware of invoices that show Truden paid upwards of $6,000 to her husband's company for six weeks' of computer services that other firms were also paid to perform.
Last year, the Colorado Democratic Party filed a complaint questioning McInnis' payment of $39,000 to his wife from his campaign committee. His opponents reportedly described the funds as excessive and "unseemly." McInnis filed a response to the complaint with the Federal Elections Committee, contending that the payments to his spouse were legitimate and complied with rules. Federal law does not prohibit politicians from paying their spouses with campaign money.
At the time, McInnis called the complaint "a political cheap shot." Now he suspects Truden is getting hit with accusations tinged with similar motives.
"You have to stand back. Who is really firing the rockets here? Where do their interests lie?" he asked.
Truden's detractors say their interests lie in restoring credibility to the district attorney's office. Truden created her own problems, they say.
Ex-prosecutor Martin Beeson, a Republican, said Truden is spinning "a tangled web of half-truths and untruths. ... I believe the breech of public trust is so deep that it cannot now be fixed. I think she has gone beyond the point of return. This whole situation is just a mess - a big mess that needs to be cleaned up. But I don't think she can clean it up. ... I believe she should resign."
hoop@aspendailynews.com

Rocky Mountain News Reports Recall of DA Truden

Attorney set to begin recall drive against DA
Truden oversees 9th District office
By Ellen Miller, Special to the NewsMay 7, 2005
A Glenwood Springs attorney wants to recall the new district attorney she claims ran off experienced prosecutors, misled commissioners and spent $15,000 on computer contract workers, including $6,000 to her husband.
"We'll start the petitions July 11, which is the first day we can," said Sherry Caloia, an attorney in private practice that includes prosecuting municipal crime in Carbondale and Basalt.
Caloia, who obtained records from 9th Judicial District Attorney Colleen Truden's office through the Colorado Open Records Act, distributed results to reporters Friday and decried Truden allegedly spending $25,000 on a new computer server, $9,587 to Desktop Consulting to install and troubleshoot it and $6,023 to her husband, Fred, through his company, Mediate It Inc., for the same services.
"None of it was in the budget and the old server is fine," Caloia said. "It looks like she was upgrading, but she doesn't even have a full staff. . . . It's not the way you run things."
Truden, her husband and Desktop Consulting didn't return calls for comment Friday.
Truden won the Republican primary last year. She had no Democratic opponent, so she was sworn in Jan. 11, overseeing Pitkin, Garfield and Rio Blanco counties. There were 11 attorneys in the office during the eight years her predecessor was in office. Truden is down to five or six.
Former Deputy District Attorney Gail Nichols gave notice in early April that she would leave the office in a few weeks but was told a few days later by Truden, Assistant District Attorney Vince Felleter and an investigator to leave immediately, according to the Aspen Daily News. She was escorted from the office by the investigator, according to the News. Several other former deputy district attorneys got the same treatment, according to the two Aspen newspapers and the Glenwood Springs Post Independent.
Truden has said not one deputy district attorney or office worker was escorted off the premises before the scheduled last day of work.

Truden paid husband $6,000

By Allyn HarveyMay 7, 2005 Colleen Truden paid more than $6,000 to a company owned by her husband for computer consulting work performed over a six-week period this year, raising questions of whether the newly elected district attorney violated state public disclosure laws.The exact amount that Fred Truden was paid came to light yesterday, after Truden released computer-service related invoices, payroll and other office expenses in response to an open records request from Glenwood Springs attorney Sherry Caloia.At the same time that she authorized payment of $6,032.50 to Fred Truden's company, Mediate It Inc., Colleen Truden also paid $6,350 to another company, DeskTop Consulting Inc., for what appears to be largely duplicative services. Truden also purchased a new, $22,000 computer server."I was surprised by how much money was spent on computers," Caloia said. She said the total amount spent on hardware, software and consulting was approximately $40,000. "I think the computer budget for that office is approximately $20,000 per year."Caloia, a Democrat and prosecutor for the towns of Basalt and Carbondale, requested the information under the Colorado law known as the open records act, which requires government agencies to open their budgets and release other documents to the public on demand.Fred and Colleen Truden could not be reached for comment. The release comes after several weeks during which Truden avoided disclosing details of her husband's relationship with her office. Fred Truden's employment at his wife's office came to light in an article published in The Aspen Times on April 21. When questioned about the situation by the Pitkin County commissioners on April 26, she replied, "My husband is not an employee on the payroll of the office of the district attorney." But she added that "he does provide some services [in the office] and does some volunteer work."During a May 2 meeting with the Garfield County commissioners, Truden clarified her husband's business relationship with her office, explaining that he had been contracted as a computer consultant through his company, Mediate It Inc.Records of incorporation filed with the Colorado secretary of state's office confirm that Mediate It Inc. is owned by Fredrick A. Truden of Glenwood Springs. The company was formed in May 2003."She should have disclosed that she was going to hire her husband to the secretary of state or the county commissioners," Caloia said. Caloia said state law requires elected officials to disclose any benefits they may accrue from the expenditure of funds they oversee.Caloia requested a list of all expediters from January through April 2005; copies of contracts for computing services; copies of invoices for architectural services regarding the potential remodel; and documentation concerning the issuance of an employee badge for Fred Truden. In a letter dated May 5, Robin Steffen, administrator for the 9th Judicial District Attorney, said Fred Truden never received an employee badge because he wasn't a staff member. But with the letter were all the other documents requested by Caloia.They indicate Fred Truden was paid $50 an hour for work relating to hardware and software installation. Some of the services listed include software installation, perhaps in connection with Colleen Truden's decision to switch her office from using Microsoft Word for word processing to WordPerfect, server installation, updating workstations, testing the computer security systems, laying cables, installing a new copier and moving furniture around the office.For February, Fred Truden charged the district attorney's office $3,207.50 for 64.15 hours of work at $50 an hour. In March, he charged $2,825 for 72 hours of work - 31 hours at $25 an hour and 41 hours at $50 an hour.At the same time Fred Truden was working on the computer and office systems, a consultant from Glenwood Springs-based DeskTop Consulting was performing similar, sometimes identical tasks for $130 an hour.For instance, on Feb. 7, Fred Truden billed his wife's office $100 for two hours for "server software installation"; on Feb. 8, DeskTop Consulting billed $260 for two hours to "begin server set up."Fred Truden charged his wife's office $537.50 for 10.5 hours of work performed over two days - "firewall connect conversion ..." on Feb. 14, and "complete firewall conversion-initiate installation of Proliant Server." DeskTop Consulting charged $1,680 for work on the firewall and server conversion Feb. 17, 18 and 21.The district attorney's office appears to have been double-billed for other, more menial installation work as well. On March 9, DeskTop Consulting charged Truden's office $260 for two items including the installation of a copier. On March 10, Fred Truden billed his wife's office $87.50 for "Minolta Copier install."Michael Wynn with DeskTop Publishing declined to explain the duplication. "Our company's policy is that we don't comment without our client's permission," he said. "We contacted our client and she requested that we not grant any interviews."In addition to being paid for computing services, Fred Truden was the beneficiary of a campaign funds disbursement in January of more than $5,000, ostensibly for reimbursement of contributions. He had to repay the money after it was discovered he didn't actually donate to his wife's campaign. The reimbursement check was reissued to Colleen Truden, who had contributed to her own campaign.Caloia said yesterday that she has no plans to run for district attorney should Truden be recalled. But Caloia made it clear she would work to have Truden recalled if a petition to do so is circulated.

DA spending under attackBy Troy Hooper/Aspen Daily News Staff Writer

Embattled 9th Judicial District Attorney Colleen Truden paid four times more to her husband than her predecessor did to a Glenwood Springs outfit for computer work, and she has spent in excess of $15,000 for a controversial expansion and remodel of her office, according to financial records released Friday.
The records, which were provided in response to an open records request made by local attorney Sherry A. Caloia, offer the first particulars concerning compensation Truden paid to her husband's company, Mediate It Inc. She initially said her husband, Frederick, was not on her payroll, but later admitted that her husband had received compensation. For six weeks of work, Truden paid her husband's company more than $6,000 for computer-related assistance and other office chores, such as surveying the office and assisting with its rearrangement.
Additionally, Truden paid more than $8,700 to DeskTop Consulting Inc., in part to fix computer problems that her ex-prosecutors say were created by her husband.
"Clearly that was the case. I don't think anyone who is objective or truthful about it would tell you otherwise," Martin Beeson, who resigned in frustration last month, said when asked if computer problems coincided with the arrival of Mediate It Inc.
"There were very few problems at all before the arrival of the new administration. When Fred came in, the problems increased exponentially. It is amazing the number of difficulties I had getting into my computer and accessing information from my computer," said Beeson.
Further muddying the waters is that the computer firm Micro Solutions, which former District Attorney Mac Myers contracted for $1,080 a month during his final term, received payment from Truden for the months of January and February. Earlier this week, Truden told Garfield County commissioners that her husband was brought in as a stopgap because no one else was available to perform the work.
"It looks like she was triple-paying for these services," said Caloia, adding that she does not believe Truden provided all the records she requested.
Caloia said she plans to file another open-records request.
The owners of Micro Solutions have disputed the story Truden told Garfield County's commissioners. Co-owner Jon Wiethoff said his firm wanted the work.
Continuing their penchant for avoiding media inquiries, and despite campaign promises to the contrary, Colleen and Frederick Truden did not return phone messages Friday. They also have not returned numerous other calls in recent weeks.
Frederick Truden has been described as a mainstay in the office, working most days of the week. Ex-prosecutors say Frederick Truden wore an employee badge, appeared on an employee roster and showed up to employee meetings. His voice is also the one heard on the office's automated answering service, which could stand to be updated: Four departed employees are still listed in the phone directory.
The newly released public records show Truden also paid $21,759 on March 10 for a new server and for its installation. The prior server was four years old.
"The server was running just fine when we left on Jan. 10," former district attorney Myers said. "And our computer service was fine, too. Those guys at Micro Solutions were great. You'd phone them up and they'd be there in 15, 20 minutes."
Myers' total computer expenses were less than $20,000 a year during his terms.
Garfield County Commissioner Trèsi Houpt, who serves on a three-person board that approves a major portion of the budget for the district attorney's office, said Truden's spending requires a thorough examination at a workshop scheduled in June.
"We'll be asking her very specific questions about any remodeling she's done or any other capital projects," Houpt said. "I don't remember money being in the budget for that. If she is spending money that was not allocated in her budget, it would be our expectation that she would come to us prior to having any work done."
When informed that records show Truden paid a total of $10,754.68 to C.F. Brenner Inc. for an office remodel, plus another $4,711.88 to Grand Junction-based RLR Engineers LLC for what appears to be related engineering work, Houpt responded: "I'll be very interested to hear her explanation on that."
As far as Beeson is concerned, Truden's office expansion is puzzling.
"There has not been an increase in staff. We were getting along fine with the office space we had, so I don't see the point in expanding or remodeling when the office space available was clearly sufficient, and it was," he said.
Beeson said he has been told that Truden intends to give her staff a county-approved, cost-of-living raise of 4 percent effective this month, but he said her foot dragging before doing it makes her behavior all the more dubious.
"She was paying Fred a thousand dollars a week when she was not paying the staff their authorized cost-of-living increases," said Beeson, noting that there are single mothers in the office just trying to make ends meet. "That's just unconscionable in my estimation. I don't know how a public employee who holds office of public trust can withhold money from those who have earned it and increase her own household income at their expense. That's not leadership."
Beeson is imploring Truden to make the raises retroactive to Jan. 1.
Since Truden took office Jan. 11, five deputy prosecutors have quit. Three of them have said they were escorted out of their offices in a degrading manner. Truden denies this, prompting several former employees to accuse her of lying.
hoop@aspendailynews.com