How often does a candidate run for a major political office while under a grand jury indictment — and then publicly accuse the man whose identity she allegedly stole of perjury?
In Colorado, Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters is one of three candidates for the Republican nomination for secretary of state in Tuesday’s primary. Her candidacy threatens to undo more than Colorado Republicans’ midterm election performance.
GOP candidates who insist on relitigating 2020 election conspiracy theories will impede the party’s ability to win in 2022. Peters, Colorado’s leading theorist, was recently indicted by a grand jury and a Republican district attorney for an alleged election security breach last year in her attempt to prove a stolen election.
Peters’s charges include seven felony counts concerning an elaborate identity theft scheme. She pleaded not guilty. To date, no evidence of substantial fraud or nefarious activity in Colorado’s elections has been uncovered.
The indictment alleges Peters recruited software engineer Gerald “Jerry” Wood for IT contract work. Within less than two weeks, Wood underwent a background check, obtained his security badge, and returned it the same afternoon.
Wood’s badge was then used at least twice in May 2021 to access secured election facilities. Images of the election server’s hard drive were made before and after the “trusted build” election equipment update, then leaked online.
Yet, according to the indictment, Wood himself never used his badge.
Wood provided sworn testimony and corroborating evidence for his alibis. That didn’t stop Peters from brazenly accusing him of having “perjured himself on the stand” during my June 18 radio interview.
Peters’s allegation didn’t last a week before it came crashing down. Compelled by her accusation, Wood reached out. He categorically rejected Peters’s outrageous allegations. “My guess is that she believes if she can discredit me, she can be absolved,” Wood told me.
This Sunday, the New York Times confirmed online chatter since last September suggesting 1990s pro surfer Conan Hayes was Wood’s imposter.
Earlier this year, former Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne, who has financed “election integrity” efforts across the country, publicly disclosed that an unidentified person attended the 2021 trusted build “dressed up like a little nerd” with someone else’s badge. This individual, reportedly confirmed by Hayes to be Hayes, was present at Peters’s invitation and even FaceTimed Byrne from the facility.
As the New York Times reports, Hayes confirmed Byrne’s account. The two have a history: After Hayes assisted the Trump campaign with its legal challenges to the 2020 election results, Byrne paid him roughly $200,000 to continue his activities. No charges have been filed against Byrne or Hayes as of now; neither resides in Colorado.
This news throws more weight behind Wood’s testimony and public comments. “If the [Times] article quoting [Hayes] bragging about being the guy using my badge is true, then it should indicate to people that I am the one telling the truth in the whole perjury accusation,” Wood said.
Peters cannot credibly claim Wood lied under oath when Hayes has admitted his involvement, Byrne has offered a detailed account of what he knows, and the DA has indicted Peters while seemingly clearing Wood.
Meanwhile, Wood, his wife Wendi, and their children have had their lives turned upside down. On my radio show Saturday, Wendi Wood excruciatingly detailed two “raids” of their home in August (by the DA and sheriff) and November (by the FBI) last year. Most of their confiscated electronics still haven’t been returned.
Peters and her associates keep repeating their deceit and insanity. The exceptional lack of integrity on display in Colorado may sink the hopes of a red wave ever reaching a state in which Democrats are genuinely vulnerable — and hamper Republicans’ congressional pickups.
Jimmy Sengenberger is the host of The Jimmy Sengenberger Show on Denver’s News/Talk 710 KNUS and Jimmy at the Crossroads, a periodic web show and podcast in partnership with the Washington Examiner, as well as a columnist for the Denver Gazette.
