Changes Possible For Gambling Cash After Call7 Investigation

A Colorado government watchdog group and two key legislators are targeting what they call questionable spending by Black Hawk city officials after a CALL7 investigation.

In April, CALL7 Investigators Tony Kovaleski and John Ferrugia uncovered hundreds of thousands of dollars spent to repair elected officials' property, take trips to Las Vegas and help city residents modernize homes that were deemed historic.

After the stories ran, Colorado Ethics Watch reviewed the same documents on which 7News based their stories and wrote letters to the Jefferson County district attorney and legislators demanding an investigation and constitutional changes.

“It's too much money. Too little accountability and it needs to be absolutely revamped,” said Chantell Taylor, director of Colorado Ethics Watch.

Taylor has asked Jefferson County prosecutors to look into criminal charges against officials who took trips to Las Vegas, paying for alcohol, show tickets and spouses’ travel with tax money, records show.

She also wants legislators to put a constitutional amendment on the 2009 ballot asking voters to stop sending millions in gaming revenue to the gambling towns for historic preservation.

Kovaleski found that nearly $40 million had gone to Black Hawk since voters approved gaming in Black Hawk and millions of dollars went to repair the homes of current and former elected officials. The money, which was supposed to repair historic homes, also paid for entertainment centers, dog doors and granite countertops – leading legislators to complain that they never intended the money to be spent for such items.

State Rep. Al White, R-Hayden, said he would work to change the constitutional amendment if he is elected to the state Senate in November.

“It needs to be readdressed,” White said. “We need to do something to get these guys under control in their misuse of public tax dollars."

White had sponsored a bill several years ago lifting key limits on how gambling towns could spend their historic funds. But he said that was a mistake, and he feels deceived by Black Hawk officials who said they would not misuse the money if the limits were lifted.

He said he would like the money to now go to veterans’ benefits but it will take Colorado voters to make the change.

State Rep. Claire Levy, a Democrat whose district covers Gilpin County, agreed the system has to change.

“We've got a lot of money going into a very small town and maybe they have run out of ways to use it,” she said.

Black Hawk officials didn’t want to talk about their spending when 7News tried to get their responses.

“Chief, you want to get this man out of my face before I punch him," said Alderman Paul Bennett when asked about his trips to Las Vegas.

Mayor David Spellman took off down the stairs when Kovaleski tried to question him about the hundreds of thousands in historic money spent on his property.

When City Manager Richard Lessner was asked if he wanted to respond to Colorado Ethics Watch and legislators planning to stop the flow of state money into the town, he had a three-word answer.

“No thank you,” he wrote in an email.