Opinion by Tribune Publisher Jordan Hedberg
In 1971, the English rock band The Who, released their hit song Won’t Get Fooled Again written by guitarist and primary songwriter Pete Townshend. While the song has all the hallmarks of a chart-topping rock tune, the lyrics and message of the song are not what one would expect from a band at that time in history.
The song is a critique of revolutions and those who either wield power or seek to topple existing power strucÂtures through them. âItâs interesting itâs been taken up in an anthemic sense when in fact, itâs such a cautionary piece,â Townshend told Rolling Stone of the track. To Townshend, the song was anti-establishment but warned, ârevolution is not going to change anything in the long run, and people are going to get hurt.â
The historical-essayist Jack Whatley, who focuses on the pop movements of the last century, brilliantly summaÂrized Townshendâs mindset in Wonât Get Fooled Again, âHe may have lived on a commune, but Townshend was no hippie; in fact, there are rumors that he belted Abbie Hoffman (one of the Chicago Seven) with his guitar after the activist tried to commandeer his microphone during The Whoâs Woodstock performance, which also influenced the song. âI wrote Wonât Get Fooled Again as a reaction to all that â Leave me out of it: I donât think you lot would be any better than the other lot!’ Townshend explained to Creem Magazine in 1982. âAll those hippies wandering about thinking the world was going to be different from that day. As a cynical English arsehole, I walked through it all and felt like spitting on the lot of them, and shaking them and trying to make them realize that nothing had changed and nothing was going to change.ââ
For Townshend, he was not going to be fooled again by what he viewed as false leaders of the 1960s cultural revolutions.
Ironically, one year after Wonât Get Fooled Again was released, the English uber-philosopher Bertrand Russell died in 1972. What Townshend had discovered on the stage of rock and roll was something that Russell had articulated in his 1946 scholarly essay, Philosophy for Laymen. He nailed the issue of listening to promises instead of waiting for evidence. âAs long as men are not trained to withhold judgment in the absence of evidence, they will be led astray by cocksure prophets.” In other words, we need more people who emphasize the vital need for critical thinking, skepticism, and intellectual humility to resist manipulation by dogmatic or dishonest leaders who offer false certainty.
The new boss, District Attorney Jeff Lindsey
I have long held the saying, âWatch what people do, donât listen to what they say.â Over the past decade, working at the Tribune, the value of this saying has become more evident as the years tick by.
When Jeff Lindsey ran unopposed in 2024 against his former boss, Linda Stanley, for the District Attorneyâs Office, I figured that it would be hard for him to be worse than one of the most incompetent people ever to hold that office. But my skepticism would not allow me to hope, because there was one nagging fact I could never really get over: How could any ethical or reasonable person work one single day under Stanley?
Thanks to the bravery of people like former Custer County Sheriff Shannon Byerly, Fremont County SherÂiff Alan Cooper, Park County Sheriff Tom McGraw, and Stanleyâs own sister, Sandra Fisher, Stanleyâs lies and long history of incompetence were fully known across the four counties that make up the 11th Judicial District during the election of 2020. It did not make any difference in the election, as national sentiment led most voters to ignore the facts about Stanley and vote a straight Republican ticket. Those courageous Sheriffs and Stanleyâs sister were brutally heckled at the time, only to be proven correct four years later when Stanley was disbarred from practice as an attorney ever again.
When Florence resident Lindsey started working for Stanley in 2021, it was impossible that he was unware of how incompetent Stanley was. Even a short conversation with Stanley about the law should have been alarming to Lindsey, yet he took the job. I will likely never get an answer to why Lindsey even agreed to work for Stanley, but he did, and she appointed him to a senior leadership position.
When Lindsey was appointed as the lead in the infaÂmous and botched prosecution of Barry Morphew in the summer of 2021, it all started to unravel for him quickly.According to the disbarment ruling of Stanley from the Office of Presiding Disciplinary Judge of the Supreme Court of Colorado in December of 2024, Lindsey, as lead prosecutor in the Morphew case, had several discovery vioÂlations under his leadership. Lindsey complained bitterly to the Office of Attorney Regulation that he had repeatedly asked Stanley for help and received none. He had a full criminal docket plus the Morphew case. According to Lindsey, Stanley demanded that he hire another attorney to take over the normal criminal caseload. When this did not happen, Lindsey put in his notice.
While it is easy and understandable to place the blame for poor leadership on Stanley, it is essential to note that the Morphew case encountered discovery violations almost immediately under Lindseyâs leadership. So, the question is: now that Lindsey is in charge of a $3 million budget, a 24% increase, have discovery violations started to decline?
The answer to that is no; in fact, the number and frequency of discovery violation sanctions have only increased over Lindseyâs first year in office. Worse, as noted in the story on page 5, despite his campaign promise of transparency, he has actively taken a stance of secrecy, seeking to help Custer County Sheriff Rich Smith cover up the unethical and possibly illegal actions of Custer County Sergeant Pete Elliott.
With one year under his leadership, we have seen the District Attorneyâs Office have more discovery violations, costing taxpayers at least $500,000 more, and still no transÂparency. The irony is that on the website, Lindsey states, âWe are committed to transparency, accountability, and serving every member of our community.â What his office does versus what they say is telling.
The new boss, one year in, is the same as the old boss, worse even, and a lot more expensive.
â Jordan Hedberg
