Remember hapless Dan Maes and his story about being an undercover agent with the Kansas Bureau of Investigation investigating a gambling and drug ring, where he was fired because "got too close to some significant people in the community who were involved in these activities"? Well, some of it was sort of true.
Maes has released documents related to his dismissal that he says validate his story. But do they?
The documents do show that he was in contact with the Kansas Bureau of Investigation over a gambling ring run by members of his future wife's family, but they reinforce the fact that his original claim of working "undercover" with the bureau -- the claim that sparked the entire scandal -- was exaggerated at best. They also show a young officer being chastised and then fired by his superiors. Not exactly stuff to frame and hang on the wall.
"You were specifically cautioned not to reveal the contents of your conversations with your superiors and K.B.I. agents to Dee Andrade," then-Chief of Police Richard Kistner wrote in a letter dated July 10, 1985, informing Maes that he was being fired. "You have violated the very basic canons of police ethics..."
Maybe he should have just left well enough alone with that story. It's not likely to do much to put a dent in these numbers: "The TPM Poll Average shows Maes (16.8%) trailing badly, both to Democrat John Hickenlooper (45.9%) and third-party candidate Tom Tancredo (32.0%)."