Today Ethics Watch requested that District Attorney Scott Storey investigate Black Hawk Mayor David Spellman and City Manager Richard Lessner for embezzlement of public funds and other potential crimes in violation of state law. Mayor Spellman, who is currently under a suspended sentence for felony assault, was named one of Colorado's most corrupt public officials in Ethics Watch's 2008 Ethics Roundup.

In response to recent media reports regarding questionable spending by city officials in Black Hawk, Ethics Watch submitted a Colorado Open Records Request Act ("CORA") request and written questions on the subject to Black Hawk City Manager Richard Lessner. After inspecting the responsive documents, Ethics Watch corfirmed that Black Hawk city officials spent thousands of dollars in tax dollars in 2007 on a lavish trip to Las Vegas for themselves and their spouses without reimbursing the city for unauthorized expenses. Black Hawk city policy expressly requires city officials to cover expenses for family members and friends with personal funds, not tax dollars. In addition to these Las Vegas trips, Black Hawk paid for official travel to Atlanta, Chicago, Washington, DC, Snowmass Village and other destinations during 2007.

Ethics Watch also investigated the historic preservation grants programs administered by Black Hawk city officials and confirmed that they have awarded each other hundreds of thousands of dollars in historic preservation grants for improvements to their own residential properties.

Based on these facts, Ethics Watch urges the district attorney's office to launch an immediate investigation of Black Hawk Mayor David Spellman, City Manager Richard Lessner, the city aldermen and persons acting in concert with them or on their behalf.