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.

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.

In response to recent reports regarding questionable spending in Black Hawk, Ethics Watch today issued a Colorado Open Records Act ("CORA") request and follow up letter to Black Hawk City Manager David Lessner. Among other things, the letters ask Mr. Lessner to provide answers about Black Hawk’s use of taxpayer money for city officials and their family members to attend a convention in Las Vegas and to explain why city officials are receiving sizable grants from the state historic preservation fund to renovate their private homes.

 

Colorado Ethics Watch has filed requests under the Colorado Open Records Act (“CORA”) regarding reported secret meetings involving State Senator Tom Wiens and members of the Board of County Commissioners of Lake County.

Freedom of Information Act Request in Regards to Canyon Maneuver Site

On August 16, 2007, Ethics Watch filed a request under the Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) with the City of Longmont seeking documents regarding the city's recent annexation agreement with LifeBridge Church.

Ethics Watch today submitted a Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) request to the Colorado Department of Revenue in response to reports that the state has failed to collect $40 million in coal severance taxes since 1993.

DENVER – Ethics Watch, a non-partisan, non-profit legal watchdog group, today called for a state audit of the Colorado Secretary of State’s (SOS) office to determine whether its employees have misused state resources for private gain. Ethics Watch also sent a Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) request to the SOS seeking information on events relating to a controversy involving Elections Technology Manager, Dan Kopelman.

Chantell Taylor, Director of Colorado Citizens for Ethics in Government (CCEG), released the following statement today regarding the Ault prison contract awarded to The GEO Group, Inc.:

CCEG today filed open records requests with the Department of Local Affairs, the Division of Emergency Management, and Department of Public Safety seeking copies of performance reports and audits regarding the state government’s use, spending, and/or allocation of federal funding from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

DENVER – Colorado Citizens for Ethics in Government today filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency to determine whether gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez broke the law by using information obtained from an ICE special agent for a political attack ad aired earlier this month against his opponent, former District Attorney Bill Ritter.

Colorado Citizens for Ethics in Government filed Colorado Open Records Requests with the Office of Governor Bill Owens and the Colorado Department of Public Safety seeking records of communications between the two offices relating to the recent discovery that gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez may have broken the law by using information from a federal criminal database for a political attack ad against his opponent.

Colorado Citizens for Ethics in Government (CCEG), a nonprofit legal watchdog group, released 13 pages of records it received from Governor Bill Owens’ office in response to a CORA (Colorado Open Records Act) request sent by CCEG on August 4, 2006. The records suggest additional documents were withheld and that the Trailhead Group has a cozy relationship with the Governor’s Office.

Colorado Citizens for Ethics in Government (CCEG) has sent a Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) request to the Office of Governor Owens to determine if the Governor engaged in unlawful coordination with the Republican 527, The Trailhead Group.