by George Gramlich,
News and Notations
Citizenship is a responsibility few of us, regrettably, take seriously these last few decades.
Being self-absorbed seems to be the new American norm. It is why we are where we are today as a country with Custer County being a rare exception. One of our local patriots, Jim McMahon, rancher, farmer, plumber, builder, Christian, bon vivant, saw something wrong two years ago at a Custer County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) meeting (attended by Muskies Bill Canda, Jay Printz and Tom Flower). So wrong, and obviously wrong, that this country boy said enough is enough, I have to do something about it. Government needs to be watched closely, especially local government. That is a key part of Citizenship. And Jim IS a serious watchdog.
At the August 28, 2020 BOCC meeting, McMahon, watched as Commissioner Tom Flower, in multiple violations of Colorado Revised Statutes (CRS), proceeded with attempts to influence his fellow commissioners into a vote to award the Health Department overtime pay that his wife, Cindi Flower, would be a recipient of. He not only hid the fact from the commissioners and the public, that he and his wife stood to benefit from the decision, he also discouraged waiting for a recommendation of fund appropriation from the committee set up for CARES Act funding disbursement. Flower also pushed the other two muskies, who did not want to vote on the issue at that time, into changing their opinions and voting to pay the unbudgeted overtime from the County coffers. These actions are in violation of CRS 24-18-109(3)(a) the Colorado Independent Ethics Commission ruled, specifically, “a breach of the public trust for private gain.”
How did the Ethics Commission come to this discovery and decision? Because Citizen Jimmy McMahon took the time to research Colorado’s ethics laws, found where to make a complaint, and sat down and wrote out a letter to them outlining these serious ethic violations. The complaint was filed and there was almost a year of working out the details of the complaint with the Ethics Commission. Finally, March 15th of this year, the Ethics Commission held the evidentiary hearing. They released their opinion Monday, May 15, 2022.
In a devastating ruling, the Ethics Commission took apart all the smoke and mirrors Flower attempted to use to slither his way out of this and found him flat out guilty of multiple
violations of Colorado Law. And they also imposed a fine on Flower which is somewhat rare.
So we have a County Commissioner that now has been censured and punished by his fellow muskies in the recent  employee harassment scandal (involving county employee Jackie Hobby) and is now being found guilty of violating Colorado law and being fined for more immoral behavior relating to a payment to his wife. We’ll hear the same, old, croaky, crocodile tear apology next meeting (I’m soooooo sorry. I’m a bad boy. It will never happen again. Waaaaaaa.) and he will do the contrition act for a week or so (like he did in Jackie Hobby’s case.) Then it is back to the Flower Power Hour where the world revolves around The Flowers. County employees, his fellow muskies, and the public will again be treated to his bullying and selfish actions that are hurting our county.
What honor lies in a man like this? Will the calls again for his resignation from the public ring hollow in this man? We will find out.
The full ruling is below. The decision and compulsory penalty is at the end. Read the whole thing. It is a lesson in moral politic that hopefully one person might finally learn. God Bless Jimmy McMahon for standing up to corruption. If you see Jimmy about town thank him and buy him ONE beer.

The Ethics Committee finding were printed in their entirety.
To view, go to https://iec.colorado.gov/sites/iec/files/documents/Complaint%2020-73%20Findings%20and%20Conclusions.pdf

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