EDITORIAL: Follow Sheriff Robinson’s lead in letting all of Colorado get around the state’s useless partisan county election system

For a man who’s made it clear he has no interest in wading through the swamp of Colorado politics, the esteemed sheriff of Arapahoe County has made one of the loudest and most important political statements in years.

Last week, after nearly 12 years at the helm of the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Department, Grayson Robinson announced that he was carrying out a plan to retire long enough before the end of his term to plant his hand-picked successor as the next county sheriff, Undersheriff David Walcher. Robinson was elected to a third term in 2010, but he said Thursday that he had always planned to retire before the term ended so his chosen successor would cement the job. In typical Robinson style, he’s not coy about how he is overtly manipulating the next election for sheriff by allowing Walcher to entrench himself as an incumbent before the 2014 countywide vote in November. Walcher has already begun his political campaign, and his credentials and track record so far is impeccable.

“Leaving office prior to the end of my third term has always been an important element of my very deliberate and well-considered succession plan,” Robinson said in a letter to the county commission and the media.

It’s up to commissioners to decide if they’ll go along with this plan, but it’s not a stretch to assume that Robinson hasn’t already counted his needed votes before making public his intent. Robinson enjoys statewide respect and has remained above the fray of petty politics during his entire career.

While some in the county may be miffed by his end-run around the election system and perceived arrogance in determining that he is best suited to know who’s best for the sheriff’s job, Robinson is absolutely right that the normal political process of electing county sheriffs is broken. Robinson has earned his reputation of being a level-handed, thoughtful and open-minded police administrator. So when he brazenly appoints his successor to avoid this state’s dysfunctional political machine from selecting the next sheriff, it’s time to pay attention. His job, and many elected county positions like it, need to be administratively appointed rather than elected from the state’s growing partisan cesspool. Robinson’s job is far removed from what the state Constitution set up for county sheriffs in the 1800s. He is essentially police chief of the City of Centennial and thousands of acres of unincorporated Arapahoe County. He’s the top administrator of one of the largest jail systems in the state.

Despite the odd political gun-law fray created recently by truly political sheriff creatures from out-state counties, the job of county sheriff has become almost identical to that of town police chief. It’s rare these days that a sheriff not have solid law-enforcement credentials.

Add to this the absurdity of making these partisan races, and you get a recipe for putting the wrong person in the job. The same goes for administrative seats such as county clerk, county assessor, county treasurer and above all, the oddity of an elected county surveyor.

If Robinson says through his actions and farewell speech that the system can’t be trusted to hire a new sheriff, it’s time for everyone at the Capitol to listen. It’s time for state lawmakers to at least allow counties to decide among themselves if they want commissioners to appoint some or all county positions, rather than make these important but bureaucratic posts political nuisances and potential dangers.

Right here in Arapahoe County, elected officials gone bad — such as former County Clerk Tracy Baker, who turned the office into a circus after revelations of sexual escapades in the department — have to be recalled or unelected rather than fired if they become a serious problem.

We recommend Colorado lawmakers during the next session act on Robinson’s lead and change county government to reflect how it functions now rather than how it did before there was electric power, paved roads and millions of Colorado residents.