May 19, 2009

DENVER – Colorado Ethics Watch, a nonpartisan, nonprofit legal watchdog group, yesterday filed a complaint with Denver District Court against the Colorado Independent Ethics Commission (IEC), asking the court to void an April 17 advisory opinion allowing a lawmaker to take a junket to Turkey.

Advisory Opinion 09-04, issued on April 17, 2009, approved a legislator’s request to accept an invitation to join a trip to Turkey.  According to the request, travel expenses for the legislator and her spouse, except for airfare, would be paid for by one or more nonprofit organizations. 

In its Advisory Opinion, the IEC ruled that payment for the Turkey junket would be deemed a “gift to the Colorado government” and not a gift to the legislator subject to the gift ban.  However, there was no evidence that the organization paying for the trip offered the gift to the state as opposed to the legislator.  Further, the IEC knew that the organization received more than 5% of its funding from a for-profit corporation and therefore could not lawfully give a gift of more than $50 to a legislator.  The IEC’s minutes reflect that the nine-page advisory opinion was written and deliberated in secret and then approved in a five-minute public meeting in violation of the Open Meetings Law’s requirement that all policy discussions take place in public.      

“Because of the secrecy surrounding this advisory opinion, members of the public had no opportunity to scrutinize the information before the IEC or provide any input regarding the IEC’s decision to blatantly ignore the plain language of the gift ban,” said Chantell Taylor, director of Ethics Watch.  “The purpose of the gift ban was to put an end to gifts given to public officials with discretionary power.  With one secret act the IEC has gutted the ban by setting a precedent that only a colorable argument needs to be made that the gift was actually to the state.”

Ethics Watch has asked the Denver District Court to declare Advisory Opinion 09-04 null and void.

The Independent Ethics Commission was established in 2006 as this state’s primary enforcement mechanism for violations of ethics standards by public officials.  The IEC is also responsible for issuing advisory opinions and letter rulings, which set policy and precedent on the gift ban and other standards of conduct.  A full history of the IEC, including the enabling legislation, its rules, and all opinions and decisions issued by the commission, are available on the Colorado Ethics Watch website at www.coloradoforethics.org under “Eye on the IEC.”