DENVER — Nearly a month has passed since voters in Dacono recalled two town councilors from office, but one of them did not go quietly.
Jim Turini lost the recall election, which was launched as Turini faced allegations that he and three other councilors violated open meeting laws to discuss firing the longtime city manager.
His replacement, Michelle Rogers, was sworn in at a meeting last week. Turini attended and opted to speak during public comment, during which he blamed his loss on a lack of Spanish-language ballots for Latino voters.
"Thirty percent of the population of Dacono is Spanish speaking, and you're writing off 30% of the population by not informing them," he said.
Turini called the failure to make multi-language ballots available a violation of Colorado law, which requires several counties, including Weld County, to provide Spanish versions. That law, however, applies to elections from the county level up, meaning it did not pertain to this race.
Turini also threw out an insult against his former colleague on the town council.
"Doris, I've done more for my Latino neighbors than your token Latino presence on the council has done," Turini said, referring to former colleague Doris Crespo.
Crespo is one of two people on the town council who voted against firing now-former city manager AJ Euckert.
The firing not only led to heated city council meetings in the months since, but it also prompted the recall election for Turini and Jackie Thomas. The other councilmembers who voted for the city manager's termination, Kathy Wittman and Danny Long, were not part of the recall as Wittman's term ends in the fall and Long has not been on council long enough to be recalled.
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