No evidence found of 'chilling effect' if submissions to commission are released

A judge on Thursday ordered Colorado’s top ethics panel to turn over records it went to court to keep secret, including letters from lawmakers and government employees asking for guidance on ethical questions.

The Independent Ethics Commission argued on Tuesday that releasing records to Colorado Ethics Watch, a nonprofit watchdog group, would cause “substantial injury to the public interest” by discouraging public officials and others subject to state ethics laws from seeking advice. The commission asked for a blanket ruling that submissions to the commission should be kept confidential.

In an unusually swift decision handed down just two days after hearing arguments, Denver District Court Judge Norman Haglund ruled the ethics commission improperly withheld documents sought by Ethics Watch in a Colorado Open Records Act request last summer. The judge also ordered the ethics commission to pay attorneys’ fees to Ethics Watch.

“Finally the commission that was established to hold officials accountable for violations of law is itself being held accountable,” said Ethics Watch director Chantell Taylor in a statement after the judge ruled. “Nothing in the Colorado Constitution or statute allows the [Independent Ethics Commission] to operate in secret. To the contrary, the IEC should serve as the model for honest and open government.”

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