Glenwood Springs attorney Sherry Caloia is, so far, a one-woman recall campaign. As the time gets closer to July 11 she hopes to expand her efforts. This week she did her homework and discovered what it will take to mount a successful campaign to recall newly elected 9th Judicial District Attorney Colleen Truden, who has come under fire recently for poor management of her office, among other allegations.

The number of signatures needed will be 25 percent of the number of votes cast in the district attorney election, Garfield County Clerk and Recorder Mildred Alsdorf said. Because the 9th Judicial District covers three counties — Pitkin, Garfield and Rio Blanco — all three counties would hold elections, but the petition will be certified by the secretary of state, Alsdorf said.

Caloia said the recall petition will need 5,455 signatures of registered voters. After the petition is certified, the election could be held from 45 to 90 days from that date.

“We can’t circulate a petition until July. The state is very clear on that, but we can do the preliminary work and get a committee together and soldiers together. And we’ll see if we have good candidate to run,” Caloia said.

Although there is no formal recall group as yet, “There is a bunch of us who talk, mostly attorneys. I’ve gotten a number of calls from people who said they’ll help, who believe the system’s integrity is compromised. Some are Democrats, some aren’t. It’s not a Democratic movement. I anticipate a person who runs probably be a Republican.”

Caloia strongly believes Truden is not fit for the office.

“I think that Colleen has proven to the community that she is more interested in furthering her own goals rather than the goals of the district attorney: her hiring of Vince Felletter as deputy district attorney, her summary termination of qualified people, her charging decisions,” Caloia said.

In charging someone with a crime, Caloia said, Truden and Felletter “have a policy of charging defendants with as many felonies as they can think up in order to have bargaining chips for plea bargaining. I don’t think that’s appropriate.”

She also strongly disagrees with Truden’s move to discontinue a program for first-time domestic-violence offenders.



“I believed very strongly in the domestic-violence diversion program before she decimated it. I’m familiar with the penny-ante domestic-violence cases where a husband and wife get into pushing and shoving. … (To have those offenders) sent to an eight-hour domestic violence class has been a tremendously effective tool to help families stay together. To force someone into 36 weeks of treatment at $40-$50 a pop, it’s uncalled-for. It’s not justice.”

In an earlier interview, Truden said she dropped the eight-hour program because the Domestic Violence Management Board, which is part of the state justice department, is re-evaluating such programs. It will make a recommendation for new programs, which she said she will adopt.

Caloia said Truden asked the county commissioners for a raise but did not give a cost of living increase, which was approved by the commissioners, to her employees.

Truden also said in the Post Independent interview that the commissioners approved a 4 percent increase for raises as appropriate. “I believe in merit raises.”

Truden said she will reorganize her office “and I will present the employees with a new classification system. They knew this. I need to evaluate the work people are doing.”

“I think there is a need to restore dignity in that office,” Caloia said.



Contact Donna Gray: 945-8515, ext. 510

dgray@postindependent.com