BRIGHTON — Adams County
Treasurer Diane Christner said she regrets a rushed decision to use a
county-owned copy machine to produce as many as 2,000 campaign fliers in
September.
"I had asked another employee if anybody had ever printed personal material on a county machine, and they said it was OK as long as I reimburse the county," Christner, a Democrat, said Tuesday. "I wasn't getting out of the office until 10 or 11 p.m., so I decided to do it.
"My timing was off," she said. "I admit I made the mistake of copying fliers in our office. I want to be honest and upfront about it, and if I wasn't, I wouldn't have told anyone about it."
Her use of the office machine has prompted an investigation in the wake of a complaint filed by her Republican opponent, Brigitte Grimm. She accuses Christner of embezzlement of public property, a Class 5 felony.
Christner on Tuesday said that when she first heard about the complaint from Denver's 7News, she was "in total shock."
She said she has reimbursed the county for both the printer and printing costs.
Campaign-finance reports show Christner on Oct. 7 paid Adams County $600 for printing costs and on Sept. 23 paid Office Depot $58.71 for "paper for fliers."
The allegations against Christner were first reported by the watchdog blog Adams County News & Views.
Adams County District Attorney spokeswoman Krista Flannigan on Tuesday said documents detailing Christner's printing activities were handed over to the DA's office Friday, along with a request to investigate.
Since the county administration building where Christner works is in Brighton, police there were asked to participate in the probe, Flannigan said.
The documents included a cellphone photo taken by an employee in Christner's office. The image appears to show a stack of fliers sitting on a government printer.
"I can say those photos were provided by a county employee, and I think it's critical that we remember that people bringing this forward are bringing awareness to unethical behavior," Grimm said Tuesday.
The printing of campaign literature on the county's dime puts both Grimm and the taxpayers at a disadvantage, Grimm said.
"Can you imagine if every official did this?" Grimm said. "We'd all be paying for her literature, and I'd be paying for my own."
Monte Whaley: 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@denverpost.com