After Colorado Media Matters repeatedly noted (here, here, here, here, here, and here) the Rocky Mountain News' failure to identify the GOP affiliation of three elected officials accused of wrongdoing while in office, a February 27 News article by Charley Able identified one of the officials -- Jefferson County Commissioner Jim Congrove -- as “a Republican and former state legislator.”

The February 27 article reported that Jefferson County hired Daril Cinquanta, “a close friend” of Congrove's, to “look into the past of ... a frequent critic of county government.” The News further noted that the Colorado Bureau of Investigation is “looking into allegations that taxpayer money was improperly used to snoop on Jefferson County employees and private citizens” during Congrove's tenure and that Congrove “has been a county commissioner since 2005.”

A previous News article by Able did not identify Congrove's Republican affiliation.

As Colorado Media Matters noted, while repeatedly ignoring the political affiliation of Congrove, as well as two other elected Colorado Republicans accused of malfeasance in their positions, the News on February 22 identified former state Sen. Rob Hernandez, who was “arrested for investigation of burglary involving his own home,” as a Democrat.

From the February 27 Rocky Mountain News article by Charley Able, “New questions arise on hiring investigator”:

GOLDEN -- Jefferson County officials' motives for hiring a private investigator are made murkier by his invoices showing he compiled information the county already had on hand.

The investigation, now the subject of a Colorado Bureau of Investigation inquiry, was conducted by private detective Daril Cinquanta, a close friend of County Commissioner Jim Congrove.

Among other things, the county hired Cinquanta to look into the past of Mike Zinna, a frequent critic of county government who sued Congrove, other county officials and county employees, claiming they violated his constitutional rights.

Zinna's case remains active in U.S. District Court in Denver.

CBI is looking into allegations that taxpayer money was improperly used to snoop on Jefferson County employees and private citizens.

Cinquanta said Monday he did what the county paid him to do in investigating Zinna, and he was not aware the county previously had compiled similar information.

The reports Cinquanta says he gave to the county have not been made available to the media despite numerous open-records requests for them. Two of those requests were submitted to Congrove, a Republican and former state legislator who has been a county commissioner since 2005.

Congrove would not comment on Cinquanta's work for the county, and questions about the investigations were met with silence from the commissioner.

Former Commissioner Dave Auburn accused Congrove this month of ordering investigations of fellow elected officials, county employees and private citizens.

Congrove has said he knows nothing about the investigations, although he signed one of Cinquanta's invoices with the notation “OK to pay.”