PRESS RELEASE FROM GRAND COUNTY ATTORNEY, RE: ETHICS COMPLAINT BY JOHN WEISHEIT AGAINST COUNTY COUNCILMAN LYNN JACKSON…

APRIL 19, 2016
PRESS RELEASE FROM GRAND COUNTY ATTORNEY,
RE: ETHICS COMPLAINT BY JOHN WEISHEIT AGAINST
COUNTY COUNCILMAN LYNN JACKSON…

To read County Attorney Andrew Fitzgerald’s complete statement, click on the images below. Here are two excerpts… JS

“The Grand County Attorney retained outside legal counsel to review an ethics complaint filed by John Weisheit, Conservation Director, Living Rivers, against Alan “Lynn” Jackson, a member of the Grand County Council (the “Weisheit Complaint”). The Weisheit Complaint asserts that Mr. Jackson, either through Del Fortner Consulting or High Desert Consulting, provided consulting services to American Potash LLC, an entity that develops and seeks to further develop potash resources in the Grand County area.”

“…The Weisheit Complaint takes the position that, because he acts as a consultant to the potash industry, Mr. Jackson must disclose and recuse himself from any matter that relates to potash mining. If one were to take such a broad view of a conflict of interest, it could well prevent an elected official from serving the interests of the very individuals who voted him or her into office. For instance, a real estate agent elected to the County Council arguably could not vote on zoning issues generally because it might affect overall real estate development in the County and thereby potentially impact the real estate agent’s potential income. Or the owner of a bike shop could not vote on developing a trail system because it potentially could increase revenues for the bike shop. Such a result would be untenable.”