The Perils of Valuable Expertise

According to a recent article in the Daily Sentinel, a Mesa County (CO) Commissioner says that he is running for re-election on his energy-industry experience (he is a principal of an energy services company that contracts with local oil and gas companies). Energy appears to be a principal industry in Mesa County, and one that often comes before the County Commission.

This commissioner's opponent is accusing the commissioner of ignoring conflicts of interest by voting on energy-industry matters involving companies the commissioner's firm has done business with. (Click here for a letter responding to the opponent's accusation.)


One matter apparently involves a request for a conditional use permit by an oil company whose request has been denied by the Planning Commission and the County Code Enforcement Office. Despite having had contracts with the oil company in the past, the commissioner participated and voted on the matter (giving the company its permit), with the approval, of course, of the county attorney.

The commissioner's defense of his actions is interesting. The article says, "Meis said it is no conflict to pay taxes and vote on tax issues, nor is it a conflict to vote on issues regarding foster parenting and be a foster parent. Meis said he pays taxes and is a foster parent, but no one ever questions those votes."

The tax issue is completely irrelevant, because all citizens are taxpayers. But would the commissioner vote on subsidies to foster parents, which is a far smaller group of people?

The question is really where to draw the line. The commissioner did recuse himself from voting to hire a company to do a community plan, because that company was doing work for his firm at the time. This implies that he draws the line between the present on the one side, and the past and future on the other. Past contracts with a company are irrelevant, and potental contracts in the future are also irrelevant, even though both of them can be perceived by the public as making the commissioner biased. Who would vote against a company knowing that, in the future, this might cause the company to hire a competing firm rather than his?

The commissioner's energy expertise is valuable, but this expertise is offset by personal and professional relationships that make the commissioner look interested where there are past, present, or potential future contracts. To the extent that energy issues frequently come before the County Commission, it is questionable whether he should be on it at all. If such issues only occasionally come before the commission, it would best for the public's confidence in its county government for the commissioner to recuse himself from participation and voting.

This would mean not being able to share his energy expertise, but if that is really what matters to him, perhaps he should not run for re-election and instead speak out on energy issues as a knowledgeable citizen.

Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics

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