A Denver District Court will hear evidence and arguments from Colorado Ethics Watch and the Independent Ethics Commission (IEC) that will ultimately lead to a decision of whether the IEC is entitled to an exception in open meetings laws and open records laws.

In August 2008, Ethics Watch filed an open records request to the IEC regarding issues facing the commission.  The IEC did not provide any documents responsive to Ethics Watch’s Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) request, instead filing a request with Denver District Court for an order to protect all information the IEC reviews. 

In October, Ethics Watch filed its own countersuit against the IEC for failure to permit inspection of documents under CORA.  The trial of these cases will take place tomorrow, Tuesday, May 12 at 9 a.m. at Division 19 of the Denver District Court.  The IEC’s blanket refusal to produce documents responsive to Ethics Watch’s CORA request is contrary to law.  The Colorado Constitution requires the IEC to preserve the confidentiality of complaints that are deemed frivolous, however, this requirement does not extend to the two complaints that the IEC dismissed without a hearing in 2008 but did not find frivolous.  In addition, Colorado law provides that the IEC shall redact the identity of persons who requested letter rulings, but intentionally does not require the IEC to redact the identity of persons who request advisory opinions.  Thus, persons seeking requests for advisory opinions have no reasonable expectation of confidentiality as a matter of law. 

Chantell Taylor has this to say in anticipation of the hearing: “Nothing in the Colorado Constitution or statute allows the IEC to operate in secret.  The Independent Ethics Commission is an important body, called into being by Colorado voters in 2006 to enforce and serve as the model for good, clean, open government.  By seeking a precedent that allows them to withhold most documents from the public, they are acting more like crusaders against transparency.  We hope the judge will respect the will of the voters and both the spirit and the letter of the law that established the commission by immediately ordering the IEC to make public documents regarding their activities during 2008.”

More information about this case can be found here.