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Happy
Holidays from Ethics Watch!
We
are extremely grateful for your support this year. Colorado still has much to do to promote
rigorous enforcement of ethics standards and true transparency in
government. Ethics Watch continues to hold public officials accountable
and empowers Colorado
citizens with vital information about the activities of state and local
government.
Particularly at this time of year we are thankful for our friends, family and
supporters. All of us at Ethics Watch wish you a warm and safe holiday,
and a successful (and ethical!) 2009. Cheers!
Sec.
Coffman Responds to Ethics Watch Complaint
On November
16, Secretary of State Mike Coffman responded to Ethics Watch's February 13,
2008 complaint to the Independent Ethics Commission (IEC) regarding conflicts
of interest in his office. Revealingly, although Coffman claimed to
"vehemently deny" the allegations of the complaint, he failed to
address the factual basis of the complaint. Instead, the response
consisted primarily of legal arguments regarding Amendment 41, which created
the IEC.
Considering it took Secretary Coffman nine months to respond to the
complaint, Ethics Watch believes Secretary Coffman has had an ample
opportunity to specify any disagreements he has with the facts in the
complaint. Ethics Watch also contends that the IEC should summarily
reject Coffman's legal challenges, with one significant exception. In a
letter delivered on November 16 to the IEC, Ethics Watch called on the IEC to
remedy its failure to investigate the allegations of the complaint, as
Article XXIX of the Colorado Constitution requires. The Constitution does
not permit the IEC to place the burden of investigation on complaining
parties. Coffman's response apparently agrees with Ethics Watch that an
IEC investigation is required.
Read Coffman's response to Ethics Watch's complaint here.
Read Ethics Watch's letter to the IEC here.
Ethics
Watch Continues to Define Campaign Finance Law in Colorado
On November
26, the Colorado Court of Appeals rejected an attempt by the Independence
Institute to invalidate Colorado's
campaign finance laws as they apply to organizations involved in ballot
initiatives. The decision made it clear that Colorado's system requiring transparency
in ballot initiative campaigns is reasonable and constitutional. The
decision included several citations to a case Ethics Watch won earlier this
year against the Committee for the American Dream, further demonstrating that
Ethics Watch's work continues to influence the development of campaign
finance law in Colorado.
Read the Court of Appeals decision here.
How You Can Help
Ethics
Watch raises public awareness about government accountability, and exposes
those who are misusing taxpayer resources. Tips from Coloradoans are
integral to our work, as are individual donations from those who support our
mission. Please consider supporting Ethics Watch with information or a
donation or both, so that we can continue to research, identify and expose
unethical behavior by our public officials.
Submit a tip here.
Make a donation here.
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Ethics Watch Suit Results
In Win For Legislative Transparency
On
November 7, Colorado Ethics Watch successfully concluded its lawsuit against
Senator Joshua Penry and Representatives Frank
McNulty and Cory Gardner for their failure to disclose public records of communications
among themselves and their staffs regarding Initiative 120, which was
certified for the November 2008 ballot as Amendment 52. Under an
agreement reached a few days prior, Ethics Watch obtained all documents that
were the subject of its July 18, 2008 Colorado Open Records Act (CORA)
requests to the three legislators.
On September 9, 2008, Ethics Watch filed suit in Denver District Court
against the three legislators after they failed to disclose all records of
their communications regarding Initiative 120, which was sponsored by Sen. Penry and Rep. McNulty. A decision in the case was
not expected before December 2008 at the earliest. The settlement
achieved Ethics Watch's goal of making public, at the earliest possible
opportunity, the legislators' communications with each other regarding that
initiative. Ethics Watch continues to press for transparency in all
legislative functions, including legislator-sponsored ballot initiatives,
though the use of CORA requests.
Read the legislators' CORA responses here
and here
and here.
Listen to Luis Toro on the Mario Solis-Marich Show here.
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