Colorado: 12th Judicial District Attorney (Alamosa/San Luis County) resigns after recall makes the ballot

Alamosa/12th Judicial District Attorney Alonzo Payne has resigned after the recall against him got to the ballot. Petitioners handed in 5974 signatures, with 4757 being declared valid. They needed 3996. The resignation was after a monitor was appointed by the state Attorney General.

The recall effort was over complaints of being soft on crime (not pursuing charges on large drug busts and not following up with crime victims on plea deals, as required by law), so a bit along the lines of the Boudin/Gascon recall efforts in California. The petitions were taken out by Alamosa Mayor Ty Coleman.