Written by: Bruce Field

brfield@hotmail.com

Summary of City of Denver Corruption

Like Bell, California, the city of Denver, Colorado (to quote Mr. Ralph Nader) “has a local government which has proven to be citizen-proof, media proof, city-council proof and even leak-proof from inside its self-enriching top officialdom”.  But Denver’s “Officialdom” does it in a much more covert, fraudulent and abusive manner than Bell.

Get this disturbing fact; the millionaire former mayor (now Governor) of Denver (John Hickenlooper) has personally appointed all the members of the Water Board Commission; these five people, (primarily lawyers and developers) illegally control the largest public water system in Colorado. They in turn approve in lockstep, all the contracts, bonds and rate increases they are given, which many are overpriced or unneeded. If a citizen protests, they are intimidated, belittled or ignored. Isn’t it illegal for a mayor and five friends to control a public water utility?  Not it Denver!

This organized theft of taxpayer funds is very entrenched, well planned, and covert and has been taking millions of dollars for years from the Denver metro citizens. This covert organization has disturbing political protection. The police, the district attorney office and the state attorney general won’t investigate it when it was reported to them by letter and/or in person. When members of the city council of this large city were informed of the fraud by letter and in person, they claimed no responsibility to look into the manner and then lied about their responsibilities to the citizens. As did the over paid city auditor (Dennis Gallagher) and his key staff. When the local media was informed by direct meetings or phone calls, they ignored the serious problems and lied also. This includes reporters at the bankrupted Denver Post and major TV networks. See a pattern like Bell?

So similar to the city of Bell, when these few corrupt City of Denver officials control the money, the media, the city council and the law enforcement, what is there to stop this large-scale fraud? Nothing, so it has gone on for years, at the expense and abuse of the U.S. taxpayer, Denver metro citizen and the abused city workers. If you report this huge fraud, safety violations or other abuses, you are ignored, threatened, fired and stifled by a gang of corrupt attorneys from either the city and/ or the water utility.

You would expect expressions of shock and dismay from the elected people, the so-called, senators and congressional representatives of Colorado (Michael Bennett, Mark Udall, Diane DeGette and Ed Perlmutter). All four have been informed of the corruption by letter or in person by concerned Denver metro citizens, but ignored the problem, refused to address it and/or lied in violation of their oaths of office. The former governor (Bill Ritter) office was informed as well and claimed no jurisdiction to look into the crimes. This is a lie as well.  A reasonable person would be concerned what these high paid elected officials are getting to ignore this and keep quiet.

The Water Board Commission (the five friends of the mayor) just recently, unanimously approved a water rate increase, even though numerous metro Denver citizens complained about problems of fraud, safety violations, employee abuse and numerous other problems. The rate increase was unneeded and a few managers at the water utility fabricated the justification.  These millions of dollars in overcharges will be used to pay for exorbitant contracts to benefactors of the fraud, like the  $7,360,148 paid to the URS Corporation to do a draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) report on an unneeded dam project. With about $2.22 million in Phase V to; “provide responses to comments on the DEIS, revise the DEIS and then prepare the Final EIS”. This is an outrage.

At least a dozen employees in the Denver City Hall know of this corruption and chose not to talk or leak the news over the years. The city newspapers, TV and radio stations as mentioned, do nothing to dig it out. The city council knows, but is compromised by its involvement in the corruption; each gets about $337,000 each year for salary, expenses and staff, other large Colorado cities paid only $6,250/ year! None of the town gadflies or skeptics bothered to reveal these problems. A gutsy, smart construction inspector with 20 years experience was fired for reporting construction project fraud in Sept. 2008; an ethical project auditor was fired in Feb. 2009 for not going along with the fraud.  Another brave city employee, who reported the fraud abuses within his department, was sent home on “house arrest” and then laid off in Nov. 2009. See a pattern of cover-up and abuse? You would think, all that is needed to bring this to light was one or two people blowing the whistle. Bu!
t in Denver, you report fraud by city officials and no one hears it, because the media is corrupted and controlled. So your reward is media silence or biased reporting, illegal retaliation, abuse and termination. Here in mile high Denver, the millionaire former mayor and his staff covertly promote intimation and fear to keep your job and cover-up their corruption; what a place to work and live! Report corruption and get beat-up and down for it by the local media, elected officials and a gang of attorneys who stifle voices and cover-up the fraud and other abuses.

Please note, this fraud and other information is not opinion. Its arithmetic-crisp numbers and facts that can easily be shown to be well planned, covert abuse by anyone willing to listen and learn in a few minutes. The safety violations, employee abuses and other problems can easily be shown to be occurring as well by numerous concerned citizens.

To arouse the citizens in Denver they need an ethical source to investigate this and expose this ongoing corruption. Obviously, no agency locally will do any thing to expose this abuse, in this clearly organized crime controlled town. What is at stake is the continued organized theft of millions of dollars each year from the U.S. taxpayer, Denver metro citizens, thousands of employees are exposed to an unsafe and abusive work environment, water quality is compromised and the poorest and elderly in Denver get ripped off the most. They certainly cannot afford this abuse! More details can be provided by numerous concerned citizens, who just want high quality water and the right to job and a clean, healthy environment without fear of loss of work, health, being intimidation or abuse by corrupt, greedy attorneys, officials or managers involved in organized theft.

The saving grace in Bell is that, once they found out, folks rushed in protest to the crowded city council meeting and the perpetrators will now be held accountable. But how can people in any city be outraged if it isn’t investigated and reported to them from a worthy source?  If you care about your water system, you need to find out; who actually controls the water in your city? Is it private or public? Does the mayor appoint all the people who control the water system? Are these people there because they have outside agendas? Where does the revenue-generated money go? What are the actual expenses? Is it safe to drink? Why are bonds being issued? If employees reports problems, are they threatened or fired? Is your local media corrupted?  If you have not asked these questions, then you may already have the water corruption existing in Denver; a public water system covertly privatized to illegally benefit the millionaire former mayor and his friends with help from the media!
, law enforcement and any others.  People have a right to clean water and at the lowest cost possible anywhere in the world, including Denver. In addition we as U.S. citizens have the right to expect Federal agencies to investigate this huge corruption problem aggressively and in the best interest of the Public they are paid by. No evidence  currently shows anything has been done to protect the citizens by any Federal agency.

Name: Bruce Field
Email: brfield@hotmail.com