Across the state, political and ethical scandals were one of the highlights of water cooler discussion last year. Colorado Ethics Watch today released its list of the Top Five Ethics Scandals of 2009 based on a busy year of watching, researching and litigating in many of these circumstances.

“Colorado’s worst ethics problems occur across party lines, in agencies, among elected and non-elected officials and all around the state,” said Director Luis Toro. “There is much work to be done to educate public officials, and Ethics Watch will remain vigilant in exposing other ethics crimes and misdeeds in 2010.”

Ethics Watch’s second annual Top Ethics Scandals list does not attempt to rank these scandals in a particular order — they are all outrageous.

photo credit: Flickr user l.e. o under a Creative Commons license