Outfaxed

His enemies thought they could use Mike Zinna�s website to destroy him. Instead, they got caught with their fax down.

Comments (0) By Alan Prendergast Thursday, Jul 29 2004

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Hutfless notes that, since all three of the alleged faxers work for public agencies, violations of standards of conduct could be involved -- particularly in the case of Beyer-Ulrich, whom Zinna has accused of sending the fax attacking Hutfless and Commissioner Holloway.

“If I was county attorney,” Hutfless says, “and I was convinced that someone who worked for me did this, I’d fire her immediately -- not only for insubordination, but for ethical violations. One of the people she made comments about was one of her employers. You don’t go around badmouthing the person you work for. You don’t subject your boss to public ridicule. Totally irrespective of whether the statements are true or false, you don’t tolerate this kind of action.”

Gadfly Mike Zinna and Fonzi run JeffcoExposed .com from a command center at the Jefferson County Airport.

Surveillance tapes capture the senders of the first two Pinky T letters, whom Zinna has identified as Jefferson County Commissioner Rick Sheehan (left) and Assistant County Attorney Cynthia Beyer-Ulrich.

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He sighs. “There is so much history underlying all this stuff,” he says. “It’s a Machiavellian political realm over there. Mike has been a terrible thorn in their sides. They’ve been violating the law for some time, and no one, especially [Jefferson County District Attorney] Dave Thomas, has held them accountable. As a consequence, they keep doing more, until they get to the point where doing slanderous activity is just second nature to these people.

“It doesn’t surprise me that they’ve hung themselves out like this. The only thing that surprises me is that it’s taken this long.”

Rick Sheehan is in the middle of his second term as Jefferson County commissioner. Both Michelle Lawrence and Pat Holloway are facing term limits, so two seats on the board -- and the leadership of the county -- are up for grabs this fall. Zinna is looking forward to covering the election as well as the fallout of the Pinky T faxes. How will Jeffco’s GOP-leaning citizenry react to the spectacle of high-ranking Republicans being slimed from the shadows, allegedly by other prominent party members?

“The Republicans need to take a hard look at this and clean their own house,” Zinna declares. “I’ve been shouting from the mountaintop about Tuthill and Cynthia, Rick and Michelle for years. Now the chickens are coming home to roost at the worst possible time.”

He chuckles. “And it’s their own damn fault,” he says.