John Scarffe, Central City. A lawsuit filed by Brad Snedeker on Monday, October 6, in the Gilpin County Court alleges improprieties in the Central City Clerk’s notarizing of nomination petitions and acceptances for nominations for the upcoming election. Snedeker does not seem to be a resident of Central City.

In addition to the lawsuit, the Colorado Secretary of State has acknowledged that a complaint has been filed with their office and another complaint has been filed with the Colorado Independent Ethics Commission.

A notary cannot notarize a document in which he or she is named as a party to the transaction, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit alleges that Central City Clerk Reba Bechtel notarized documents in which the affidavit has been compromised by two circulators.

Each nominating petition begins with “To the Honorable, Reba Bechtel, City Clerk.”  Another allegation is that, without her presence, Barbara Thielemann’s name was added to the petition after the fact.

Bechtel said that when she is serving as a notary, she is verifying that the signature belongs to the person signing a document. She is not verifying the accuracy of the document, which is a different process. “That’s what a notary does, verifies a signature,” she said.

Central City has a limited number of people available to serve as a notary, Bechtel said, and generally no one else is available, including the notary in the police office. She said the clerk’s office does it for no charge and has no monetary gain from the activity.

Bechtel said she connects with other clerks. Some of their offices notarize documents and others don’t.

“I’m sure we’ll revisit the policy as to our availability going forward,” Bechtel said.

According to Gilpin County Clerk and Recorder Colleen Stewart, the ballot for the upcoming November 4 election in Central City includes two candidates for mayor and five candidates for City alderman. Two positions are open on the Central City Council.

Candidates for mayor are incumbent Ronald E. Engels and former City Planner Robert Fejeran. Candidates for the two City Council positions are Judy Laratta, Kara R. Tinucci, Shirley Voorhies, Bobbie Hill, and Janet Thompson.

The suit alleges that between August 12, 2014, and August 27, 2014, Bechtel notarized nomination petitions and acceptance of nomination for Shirley Voorhies, Judy Laratta twice and Kara Tinucci twice. Colorado State Statute 12-55-110(2)(b) prohibits a notary public from signing a document in which he or she is named as a party to the transaction.

Violations are a class two misdemeanor. The suit also alleges that Bechtel is a personal friend and political supporter of Voorhies, although in a city as small as Central, such relationships are almost inevitable.

“The acknowledgement on the nominating petition for Shirley Dee includes both Shirley Dee Voorhies and Barbara Thielemann,” according to the lawsuit. “On the information and belief, Ms. Thielemann was not present at the time of the notarization but was added later.

“Without valid notarization, the affidavits on the nomination petitions and acceptances of nomination were not properly sworn, and the nominating petitions and acceptances of nomination were improperly accepted by the clerk. As the clerk was also the notary responsible for the defective affidavits, the Clerk had actual knowledge that the affidavits were defective.”

According to the lawsuit, the candidates for aldermen and mayor in the same election will be particularly injured as this casts doubt on the integrity of the election in which they are running.

As a remedy, the petitioner asked that the “Court immediately order Clerk Bechtel to reject the petitions for which she inappropriately acted as notary and for which she violated the statutes governing the conduct of notaries, and that this Court should further immediately order that Clerk Bechtel remove from the ballot the name of any candidate for which she inappropriately and illegally acted as notary, or if there is no time to change the ballots, then to discard any votes cast for such candidate.”

In addition to the lawsuit, complaints have been filed with the Colorado Secretary of State and the Colorado Independent Ethics Commission. The Secretary of State was requested to immediately begin an investigation and, if a violation is found, to revoke Bechtel’s commission.

Secretary of State Spokesman Rich Coolidge said the complaint was received today. He said they receive a handful of such requests every year. Now that the complaint has been filed, the attorneys will review it and decide if they want to go before an administrative law judge.

The petitioner is asking that the clerk’s commission be revoked. Coolidge said that would be the most extreme step. In the final outcome, the petitioner hopes that the result is a fair and impartial election process.