This afternoon, Ethics Watch filed with the Colorado Office of Administrative Courts a motion for summary judgment in its case against Senate Majority Fund, LLC for failing to timely report spending on advertising regarding Libby Szabo, a candidate for state senate.

State Elections Director Holly Lowder resigned Thursday without an official explanation. Lowder's resignation occurred shortly after Ethics Watch served a Colorado Open Records Act ("CORA") request on the Secretary of State's office seeking documents regarding state contracts with voter database consultant John Paulsen, who purportedly leased a condominium to Lowder.

With the new rules of the Colorado Independent Ethics Commission taking effect yesterday, Colorado Ethics Watch, a nonpartisan, nonprofit legal watchdog group, today bolstered its pending complaint against Secretary of State Mike Coffman by submitting additional evidence and by calling on the Commission to immediately move forward with the investigation and hearing process.

E-mails obtained by Colorado Ethics Watch through a Colorado Open Records Act request show that Secretary of State Mike Coffman aggressively lobbied media outlets to minimize his wrongdoing and instead write negative stories about Colorado Ethics Watch. In one case, Coffman contacted a media outlet to discredit Ethics Watch's campaign finance complaint against the Committee to Elect Dr. Jim Geddes for CU Regent, even though Dr. Geddes' campaign committee is subject to Coffman's jurisdiction and the complaint resulted in a fine of $4000 to that committee.

Jefferson County School Board member Vince Chowdhury has announced his resignation, effective Thursday, August 21. On July 9, Ethics Watch called for Chowdhury to resign after he pleaded guilty to a charge of assaulting a child. On August 12, Chowdhury lost the Democratic primary in State House District 22 to Camille Ryckman.

Ethics Watch is presenting its continuing legal education ("CLE") course on "Ethical Concerns for Attorneys Involved In Political Campaigns" on Wednesday, August 20 at noon at Foster Graham Milstein Miller & Calisher LLP in Denver. The course has been approved for one general and one ethics CLE credit in Colorado. The course is open to all Colorado attorneys and is free of charge.

Douglas Bruce, representative from State House District 15 who was named one of Colorado's most corrupt public officials in Colorado Ethics Watch's 2008 Ethics Roundup, lost to Mark Waller in the Republican primary yesterday.  Rep. Bruce was the first state representative in Colorado history to be formally censured for misconduct.

In response to a complaint filed by Colorado Ethics Watch, an administrative law judge ruled last week that the campaign committee for Dr. Jim Geddes, candidate for University of Colorado Regent, District 6 in the 2008 general election, is guilty of campaign finance violations and ordered Dr. Geddes’ campaign committee to pay $4000 in fines.

Ethics Watch calls on Commissioner Torres to immediately return the unlawful contribution from Las Animas County Republican Women’s Club, which patently exceeds the $400 contribution limit, and immediately rectify his many other filing delinquencies.

The day after Ethics Watch filed a complaint with the Colorado Secretary of State against the Senate Majority Fund LLC (SMF) for failure to report thousands of dollars in campaign spending, SMF adjusted its reports to disclose nearly $100,000 in spending on political ads and mailings.

Colorado Ethics Watch filed a complaint with the Colorado Secretary of State against the Senate Majority Fund LLC (SMF), a political organization registered with the Internal Revenue Service and the Colorado Secretary of State as a 527, for failure to report thousands of dollars in campaign spending. According to documents obtained by Ethics Watch, SMF purchased at least $25,000 of television air time for ads supporting state senate candidate Libby Szabo in June 2008. Reports filed by SMF to date do not disclose spending on the television ad.

Colorado Ethics Watch is pleased to announce that it has been approved by the Colorado Supreme Court Board of Continuing Legal and Judicial Education to sponsor continuing legal education ("CLE") courses. Ethics Watch will present its first seminar, on "Ethical Obligations of Attorneys Involved in Political Campaigns," at the offices of Holland & Hart LLP in Denver on August 14 and Foster Graham Milstein Miller & Calisher LLP in Denver on August 20.

In response to the Denver District Court’s ruling today denying Colorado Ethics Watch’s petition against Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey, Ethics Watch renewed its commitment to pressuring district attorneys to enforce criminal standards of conduct for public officials.

Colorado Ethics Watch sent a letter today to key legislators renewing its call for reform of limited gaming funds in Black Hawk. The letter was spurred by a recent City of Black Hawk ordinance that would permit the city to divert State Historical Fund money to pay for the city's fire and public works departments. The ordinance raises serious questions regarding Black Hawk's management of State Historical Fund dollars and the additional $7.5 million in direct grants it received from Colorado's limited gaming fund last year.

Today, Colorado Ethics Watch issued a statement commending the Independent Ethics Commission ("IEC") for adopting a slate of rules that more closely align with the voters' intent, and called on the IEC to begin addressing complaints and requests for advisory opinions.

Today, Colorado Ethics Watch filed written arguments in favor of its petition to the Denver District Court to compel Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey to act on its request for a criminal investigation of Senator Andy McElhany and the Senate Minority Office. The brief was filed in response to a June 27 order by District Court Judge Norman D. Haglund that permitted to parties to submit additional legal arguments.

Today, Ethics Watch joined the Jefferson County School Board in urging Vince Chowdhury to immediately resign from his school board position based on Mr. Chowdhury's recent guilty plea for physically assaulting his daughter.

Today, Ethics Watch tesitifed to the Independent Ethics Commission ("IEC") regarding the IEC's proposed rules.

 

Colorado Ethics Watch, a nonpartisan, nonprofit legal watchdog group, is calling on the Independent Ethics Commission (“IEC”) to release information about the executive director it recently hired, Jane Feldman. Without any notice to the public, the IEC announced its decision to hire Ms. Feldman in a one-sentence statement on the IEC’s website. The announcement was apparently posted on June 30, 2008, the day before she began her official duties, July 1, 2008.

Today, Colorado Ethics Watch submitted to the Independent Ethics Commission ("IEC") comments on the IEC's Proposed Rules of Procedure. Ethics Watch submitted the comments in advance of the IEC's public hearing on its proposed rules, which will be held on July 7, 2008 at 9:00 a.m. in Conference Room 2A at 633 Seventeenth Street, Denver, Colorado.