El Paso County Commissioners push back on alleged ties to GOP consultant

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) - El Paso County Commissioners are speaking out, refuting claims made in a recent Denver Post article that suggested they had ties to GOP consultant Jeff Small, who works with the Denver-based 76 group.

According to the article, Small contacted officials in multiple Colorado counties earlier this year, offering to help them get removed from a federal sanctuary jurisdictions list. In some cases, the article implied that Small solicited payments for this service.

But El Paso County officials say there was never any formal relationship, financial or otherwise.

“We had not engaged Mr. Small,” said Commissioner Carrie Geitner in an interview with 11 News. “There was no direction given, and certainly no payments made.”

Geitner clarified that Small did reach out to one commissioner, Holly Williams, but emphasized there was no collaboration or agreement. She says county leaders only learned about the alleged connection through the Denver Post article itself.

“We moved quickly to reach out and let folks know that we had not entered into any kind of engagement with him,” said Geitner. “We just wanted to correct the record.”

Jeff Small’s Response

Jeff Small, a principal with the 76 Group, issued a statement to KKTV following the backlash. In it, he says he never told the media he had a contract with El Paso County or received payment.

“I personally advocated for the removal of El Paso County, Weld County, and Garfield County free of charge,” Small wrote, “because I felt strongly that these counties never should have been on the sanctuary jurisdictions list in the first place.”

He added that he made calls and sent materials to federal contacts and was informed that the counties were ultimately removed from the list.

Denver Post Responds

The Denver Post also issued a response, saying their original article was updated once El Paso County provided clarification. The newspaper maintains that it followed standard reporting practices and reached out to the Board of County Commissioners for comment before publishing the story.

“The county’s communications manager was initially unaware of our request,” the paper’s editor said. “Once we heard from the county, we updated the story to include its response shortly before the commissioners released their own statement.”

This is a developing story. KKTV will continue to follow any new details that emerge.

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