Colorado Ethics Watch (Ethics Watch), a non-partisan, non-profit legal watchdog group, has hired three new staff members to help the organization target corruption in state and local government.

Luis Toro, Ethics Watch’s new senior counsel, will spearhead legal actions and conduct legal research. With more than 15 years of experience, Luis will use his civil litigation expertise to focus on unlawful actions in the public sector. Previously, Luis was a litigation partner at Senn Visciano Kirschenbaum P.C. His experience also includes work for the Honorable Carlos F. Lucero of the United States Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals and for the Natural Resources Defense Council. Luis has taught courses at the University of the Pacific’s McGeorge School of Law and published work includes posts on Colorado Confidential, SquareState and other online publications. Luis is a graduate of the Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California at Berkeley.

Doug Staggs is the new research director at Ethics Watch, responsible for researching leads, gathering tips and authoring reports. Before joining the Ethics Watch team, Doug worked for the Gill Foundation as a grants manager. Doug holds an M.A. in English and has worked in nonprofit organizations for more than five years.

In January, Allison McGee Johnson was hired as part-time Communications Director for Ethics Watch. With more than 15 years experience in marketing, communications and public relations for non-profits and corporations Allison will facilitate the organization’s media relations and outreach.

Chantell Taylor, director of Colorado Ethics Watch, launched the organization in 2006 as a state project of the Washington, D.C.-based group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). In less than 18 months, Ethics Watch has initiated dozens of criminal investigations, litigated precedent-setting campaign finance complaints and is quickly becoming the leading resource on ethics issues in Colorado.