I have written before about how the Democratic lock on local office here in Boulder leads to corruption. Not necessarily financial payments, but a corruption of office holders who feel entitled to their seats, and who are free to operate as they please with no significant threat of losing their seat.
We have the County Commissioners exhibiting this behavior most every time they meet. We have Claire Levy with her tone-deaf defense of Edie Stevens. And now we have Cindy Carlisle as the latest example of "the rules don't apply to me."
Cindy sits on the C.U. Board of Regents. C.U. just paid $2.5 million in a settlement where the lead attorney is Baine Kerr - Cindy's husband. While Cindy recused herself from this issue, how can her being a regent have no impact on the University's decision to settle, and for how much. Everyone at the University involved in this knew that a significant part of the payment would be going to Cindy via her husband. Some individuals might over-compensate by offering less, some would offer more to not have her upset with them over something else. But it had to impact everyone involved.
And Cindy's defense is "I never thought I should resign," she told me. "I was elected, and I did not hear from my constituents that this was something I needed to take into consideration." I have a feeling that when the campaign heats up, Cindy will start to hear from the voters on this conflict.
Everything may have been handled "properly" but that does not mean it won't smell bad to a number of voters. Put Cindy in the eminently beatable category.
