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Fried: Sheriff Alderden Battling Non-existent Enemies Once More By Eric Fried
The County Commissioners recently took one small but laudable step towards ending discrimination against gays and lesbians: They made it possible for domestic partners of county employees to get health benefits. That applies to unmarried couples, both gay and straight. We don't know exactly how many county employees are gay (because we don't make them wear pink triangles on their lapels), but they constitute a significant minority. As a society, we prohibit them from getting married, yet deny them access to their partners' health insurance because they aren't married. Then when they ask for a way to enjoy the same benefits everyone else does, we accuse them of demanding “special rights.” Do you see a catch here? If you figure about 1,200 county workers, and estimate that 5-10 percent are gay, we are talking about a handful of employees who might need this benefit. Indeed, County Manager Frank Lancaster estimated about 10 people are expected to enroll in the new program at a whopping cost of (take a deep breath) $37,000 annually out of a total health care budget of $12 million. Proposed by Commissioner Randy Eubanks and approved 2-1 (with Kathay Rennells in favor and Glenn Gibson against), the domestic partner benefit generated little opposition … except for our own Sheriff of Nottingham. He objected on moral grounds. He objected on monetary grounds. He objected on procedural grounds. But mostly, he objected because he thinks he is the unelected chair of the Board of County Commissioners. Under our dysfunctional form of government, the three commissioners collect tax revenues and appropriate funds for all county departments, including the seven—like the Sheriff's Office—whose leaders are directly elected by the voters and therefore function as independent baronies. Our local sheriff fancies himself a northern version of Arizona's legendary Joe Arpaio, and has made it clear he considers his department the only one that matters. He wants the commissioners to hand over a blank check, and cut everything else so he can have more money. I agree that law enforcement is important, but so is road maintenance, the health department, building inspections, running elections, social services, and so on. Alderden's squabbles with Commissioner Gibson are legendary, with Gibson trying to get the coroner to arrest the sheriff in the past and Alderden backing a Republican candidate to take out Gibson in this year's primary. In his “Bull's-eye” column on the county Web site, Alderden defiantly states he will not pay for the domestic partners policy unless the commissioners give him more money. He calls Gibson a “pretty far left Republican,” accuses the county of caving in to “political correctness” and engages in some gratuitous Boulder-bashing for the heck of it. He also blasts the commissioners for not informing him in advance. Of course, Alderden might learn something if he listened more and talked less: That’s why we have two ears and only one mouth. Alderden has long been using his bully pulpit as Sheriff to run for higher office. Last year, when Fort Collins considered making the winter holidays more inclusive, Alderden seized the occasion to rail against a non-existent “Jihad against Christianity,” and erected his own Christmas tree on the Sheriff's department lawn. Alderden claims “the separation of Church and State is … not the views of our Founding Father,” although Jefferson himself coined the phrase. Alderden also wildly exaggerates our local gang problem. The commissioners clearly must make one more budget appropriation: They need to buy the Sheriff a new seat of bleachers, to accommodate all his grandstanding. |
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