Pinnacol Assurance has wanted to play it both ways in recent years. When it comes to tax breaks, the state-chartered workers compensation fund wants to be considered a public agency. But when it comes to releasing certain documents, it wants to be a private entity.
However, last week a judge clearly said, and rightly so, that expense reports for Pinnacol executives are public records. The ruling was a win for KMGH-Channel 7, which had requested expense records for Pinnacol board members and executives who traveled to Pebble Beach, Calif., for a golf and wine-tasting outing.
Pinnacol is considered a quasi-governmental agency that operates similarly to a private business but enjoys certain tax advantages and its board is appointed by the governor. The judge said the expense reports were “clearly” public records. The law governing Pinnacol states it’s a political subdivision and it cites specific records Pinnacol does not have to make public, the judge ruled. These records didn’t fall under those exceptions, according to a story by The Post’s Tim Hoover.
The public and the businesses that pay into Pinnacol have a legitimate interest in knowing how Pinnacol spends its money.
And he still doesn’t wear high heels. The New York Times in an editorial on Friday painted Colorado Republican Senate candidate Ken Buck as a far-right extremist who’s out of touch with “mainstream American values.” The Times said nominating the likes of Buck and others makes the Republican brand “barely recognizable.” We can’t vouch for the other candidates branded as extremists in that piece, but Buck, the Weld County district attorney, isn’t on the fringe. He’s conservative, to be sure, and has made a few outlandish statements from which he’s had to pull back, but his views on hot-button issues, such as immigration, are more nuanced than he’s often given credit for.
Next time, slide. Tim Tebow, the once and future king of Denver, is a bit banged up after diving head first for the end zone in the waning seconds of an exhibition game loss to Cincinnati last Sunday night. The hit spun him like a helicopter propeller, a la John Elway in Super Bowl XXXII. We love your spunk and desire, kid, but it’s preseason. Against the Bengals. It’s OK to slide and avoid the hit. Then again, on second thought, keep that killer instinct. It — and Super Bowl wins — have been missing since 1999.
And a tip of our cap to … the thousands of kids who went back to school last week, or who are preparing to head back soon. Study hard. No pressure or anything, but our future depends on you.
Short Takes is compiled by Denver Post editorial writers and expresses the view of the newspaper’s editorial board.
