Related Ethics Headlines

Wilson fights for his DA job after DUI charges

dstaggs — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:54:17 -0500

Jim Wilson, district attorney for the 22nd Judicial District, said he will not step down from his elected position in the wake of his recent driving under the influence charge.

Wilson faces five counts of criminal misconduct stemming from the February DUI incident. He defended his right to have the case go through a fair legal process and noted the charges do not reach a level of illegality for him to quit the office.

Complaint filed over lawmaker's living arrangement

ltoro — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 10:54:36 -0500

A Colorado Springs resident claims a state senator who is paying only $500 a month rent for a swanky downtown Denver condo is violating the state’s confusing ethics laws.

A complaint filed Wednesday with the Colorado Independent Ethics Commission says that Sen. John Morse accepted something of value greater than $50, which was outlawed when voters in 2006 approved Amendment 41.

Danner addresses Hatch Act

dstaggs — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:15:17 -0500

Moffat County Commissioner Audrey Danner addressed Wednesday the circumstances behind her research of the Hatch Act, a federal law that surfaced recently at the local level, during a news conference at the Moffat County Courthouse.

Written in 1939 and amended in 1940, the Hatch Act restricts political activity of people employed by state or local agencies who work in connection with programs financed, at least to some degree, by federal money.

MCTA discusses voting violations

dstaggs — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:07:54 -0500

The Moffat County Tourism Association board hosted a special meeting Tuesday to address an illegal voting method used during the hiring process of its new director Marilynn Hill.

The MCTA board voted by anonymous paper ballot March 2 — a method Moffat County attorney Kathleen Taylor said was a violation of Colorado’s Sunshine Law.

Board member Frank Moe brought the issue to the board’s attention later that day after reading about a similar issue the Grand Junction City Council faced.

District attorney gets DUI

ltoro — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 11:58:54 -0500

The 22nd Judicial District's top law enforcement official was arrested in February for driving under the influence of alcohol and faces a myriad of criminal charges.

District Attorney James Warren Wilson was pulled over about 10:15 a.m. Feb. 21 for making an unsafe pass of another vehicle along Colorado Highway 24 near Buena Vista, according to Sgt. John Hahn, public information officer for the Colorado State Patrol's headquarters in Denver. Wilson was driving a 2009 Jeep utility vehicle and heading west.

Western Tradition attacks 98-year-old corporate campaign spending ban

ltoro — Tue, 9 Mar 2010 11:18:57 -0500

The conservative Astroturf group that spent thousands to swing the Longmont City Council back to the right last November and keep the Garfield County commissioner board in the oil and gas camp in 2008 has filed a lawsuit in Montana to overturn that state’s 98-year-old ban on corporate spending on political campaigns.

Colo. backs off claim of investigation of lawmaker

dstaggs — Mon, 8 Mar 2010 17:20:09 -0500

DENVER—State officials are backing off earlier statements that a Colorado state senator is being investigated for allegedly misleading consumers with advertising flyers that look like official tax documents.

Last week, Division of Real Estate Director Erin Toll said Republican state

Web Site Tracks Where Your State Tax Money Goes

dstaggs — Mon, 8 Mar 2010 13:32:41 -0500

DENVER -- The Colorado Department of Treasury Web site now has a new feature that shows Coloradans how their state tax dollars are spent.

The feature, launched Sunday, also lets visitors vote on whether they agree with how the funds are collected and spent.

“Government can only be accountable if taxpayers can see what they are buying and how much they are paying for it,” said State Treasurer Cary Kennedy.

Complaint against DA over pot dispensary on hold

dstaggs — Fri, 5 Mar 2010 13:49:34 -0500

A Colorado Springs city councilman who threatened to file a complaint against Fourth Judicial District Attorney Dan May over a medical marijuana dispensary said today he’s ready to pull the trigger.

State senator subject of fraud probe

dstaggs — Thu, 4 Mar 2010 11:08:43 -0500

DENVER — A Colorado state senator and the mortgage company where he works are being investigated for allegedly misleading consumers by sending out advertising fliers that look like official tax documents, a state official said Wednesday.

Investigators believe Republican Sen. Ted Harvey and American Home Funding — the Greenwood Village company where he works as a broker — violated state laws by sending the ads, said Colorado Division of Real Estate Director Erin Toll.

Springs police revamp take-home vehicle policy

dstaggs — Thu, 4 Mar 2010 13:36:00 -0500

Law could end Wiggins’ run for Routt County sheriff

dstaggs — Wed, 3 Mar 2010 12:36:16 -0500

One of the three candidates for Routt County sheriff is looking into a 1939 federal law that could prevent him from running for elected office, but he said he is continuing his campaign until the question is resolved.

Garrett Wiggins said he is looking through the Hatch Act to determine whether his position as All Crimes Enforcement Team drug task force commander would disallow his candidacy.

Attorney: City vote was illegal

dstaggs — Wed, 3 Mar 2010 12:44:24 -0500

The appointment of new Grand Junction City Council member Sam Susuras may have involved illegal voting methods, according to open meetings law and a prosecutor handling a lawsuit recently levied against the Fort Morgan City Council for similar conduct.

May says he acted as citizen, not DA, to complain about pot dispensary

ltoro — Tue, 2 Mar 2010 11:57:23 -0500

Fourth Judicial District Attorney Dan May’s efforts to get rid of a medical marijuana dispensary in his neighborhood have caught the attention of a Colorado Springs city councilman who says he’s considering filing an ethics complaint against May.

Coloradoan earns First Amendment service award

ltoro — Mon, 1 Mar 2010 16:20:37 -0500

The Fort Collins Coloradoan's effort to fight for transparency at Colorado State University was honored Friday with one of the Colorado Press Association's highest honors.

The paper also won several honors Friday night at the annual Colorado Associated Press Editors and Reporters awards banquet.

OUR VIEW: DA phones landlord of pot dispensary he dislikes

ltoro — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 16:01:42 -0500

District Attorney Dan May told The Gazette’s opinion department Wednesday that he contacted the landlord of a medical marijuana business because of a desire to get the

House leaders get more leeway in launching ethics probes

ltoro — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 10:36:16 -0500

House leadership will now meet in private with lawmakers who face ethics complaints before the complaints get a full and public committee hearing.

Lawmakers today unanimously approved the rule change, characterized by bi-partisan proponents as a way to help the House speaker, majority leader and minority leader decide whether to launch full-scale investigations. One lawmaker argued the change could lead to mini-investigations away from public view.

Denver Post muddles Colorado high court Dallman campaign finance ruling

ltoro — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 16:02:04 -0500

It was an easy hook but it garbled Jessica Fender’s Denver Post story. Fender was reporting the fact that the Colorado Supreme Court found Amendment 54 unconstitutional, striking down in Dallman v Ritter the restrictions on campaign donations put in place by the amendment at the beginning of last year. But Fender too breezily tied the story to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling last month in Citizens United,

State Supreme Court declares ‘clean government’ Amendment 54 unconstitutional

dstaggs — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 18:37:11 -0500

In a four to one vote, the Colorado Supreme Court this morning declared that so-called clean elections Amendment 54 unconstitutionally tramped on the right to free speech. The Court barred authorities from enacting its provisions.

Amendment 54 ruled unconstitutional

ltoro — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 12:02:25 -0500

A voter-approved Constitutional amendment barring campaign contributions from unions and some state contractors was today ruled unconstitutional by the state Supreme Court.

The decision wraps up a 16-month-long fight over the constitutionality of a law that opponents said curbed free speech rights and which threatened to chill donations to political candidates.