Colorado Ethics Watch today transmitted a formal request to the City of Colorado Springs under the Colorado Open Records Act to inspect and copy documents related to the Colorado Springs Independent Ethics Commission's investigation of an ethics complaint against Mayor Lionel Rivera.

On May 4, 2009, Ronald S. Johnson filed an ethics complaint against Colorado Springs Mayor Lionel Rivera, alleging that Mayor Rivera had a conflict of interest with regard to the City's involvement in a United States Olympic Committee (USOC) development project, due to the mayor's alleged business relationship with other parties to the USOC deal. 

The CSIEC found the complaint not to be frivolous and conducted an investigation. The Colorado Springs Gazette has reported that the investigation is now complete and the CSIEC's recommendation will be delivered to City Council.

The CSIEC's Rules of Procedure, which were adopted by City Council in 2007, provide that the CSIEC's recommendation to City Council is a confidential document.  However, the Rules of Procedure also require that documents obtained by the CSIEC during the investigation be preserved in the Office of the City Attorney.  Those documents are not declared to be confidential by the Rules of Procedure.  Ethics Watch's CORA request seeks disclosure of the documents maintained in the CSIEC's investigative file along with any other documents obtained by the CSIEC related to the Rivera ethics complaint.  Ethics Watch intends to make public the documents it receives from the City of Colorado Springs as a way to insure that the public can rest assured that the CSIEC adequately performed its investigative obligation and made a reasonable determination whether Mayor Rivera's alleged actions violated the Colorado Springs Code of Ethics.

The Colorado Springs Independent Ethics Commission was created in 2007.   It has jurisdiction over complaints alleging violations of the Colorado Springs Code of Ethics by elected officials, appointees, and independent contractors of the City of Colorado Springs.  The commission has the power to issue subpoenas and make recommendations to the City Council regarding whether a violation of the Code of Ethics has occurred.  The commission's website can be found here.