The incumbent uses taxpayer-funded Arapahoe County facilities and services to quietly and secretly put large amounts of money in his personal pocket.
My opponent, the incumbent Democrat, does autopsy services for various other counties in Colorado.
My opponent justifies his salary of $222,000 annually by telling the County Commissioners that he will subsidize part of his salary “by $18,000 per year by doing outside cases.”1
My opponent promised he would bring into the county $18,000 per year by doing such services.1
But the Department Summary Report for 2009 Requested Revenue Budget (last year we have) shows that Arapahoe County only will get only $9,200 for “Private Autopsies”2
Where is the missing $8,800 per year going?
But it gets worse…
The calculation of the missing $8,800 per year is based on the incumbent’s statement that the going rate he charges for outside autopsies is $900 per case.1
The truth is that the incumbent has for some time been charging $1,200 per case.3 For one county, he charges $1,800 per case. 4
The incumbent estimates that he is doing approximately 20 cases per year for other counties. 1
So, the incumbent is really making something closer to $24,000 per year doing outside autopsies.
Easy math tells us that the missing funds are much closer to $14,800 per year.
The Coroner should not use his office as a place to run a lucrative personal business.
The incumbent is not keeping his promises to the Commissioners, or to the taxpayers, at a minimum.
But it gets worse…
When a county other than Arapahoe County uses the incumbent’s personal autopsy business to perform it’s autopsy and the body is at Swedish hospital, the incumbent uses Arapahoe County Staff and vehicles to transport the body to the Arapahoe County Coroner’s office, where he performs the autopsy. The transportation for this service would otherwise cost $80.00, however the incumbent does not charge the other county for this service nor does he reimburse Arapahoe County.3
This means that the incumbent is using taxpayer-funded County services to help him in his personal business. That is deceptive, and wrong.
There's More...
When the incumbent is doing outside autopsies using Arapahoe County facilities, he pays the autopsy assistants about $150 each for their work assisting him. 3 They assist him during work hours at the Coroner’s office, so they are also double-dipping. This keeps the autopsy assistants happy to help him in his personal business.
But several other aspects to autopsies are performed by investigators, who are other staff in the Coroner’s Office. In Arapahoe County, investigators collect medical records, the blood samples gathered upon admission to the hospital, do X-rays, and transport the bodies to the Arapahoe County Coroner’s Office.
These unfortunate staff members are thus forced to help the incumbent gather money to himself, and they are working on the taxpayer dime.3 The incumbent is using taxpayer-paid staff to line his pockets.
Further, when these staff members are working in the incumbent’s private business, they aren’t able to perform their assigned duties for Arapahoe County.
And to top it all off…
A staff member in the Coroner’s Office discovered the incumbent’s ongoing scheme to turn the Coroner’s office into his personal money machine , and confronted him about what he was doing. That staff member was then fired by the incumbent.3
1 Handwritten document given by Michael Doberson to Board of County Commissioners on December 11, 2006 to justify an increase in his salary to $222,000. That document is found elsewhere in this website, and can be viewed by clicking HERE.
2 Arapahoe County Department Summary Report for 2009 Requested Revenue Budget. That document is found elsewhere in this website, and can be viewed by clicking HERE.
3 Information provided by one of several confidential informants who are very familiar with the Arapahoe County Coroner’s Office by dealing with that office, or by working in that office. These informants have offered information gladly, but on the condition that their names not be released, because they are afraid of personal retribution from the incumbent, should he be re-elected.
4 The county is Douglas County, and the collusion between the incumbent and the Coroner of Douglas County will be dealt with elsewhere. Jump to that location by clicking HERE.
