With the new rules of the Colorado Independent Ethics Commission taking effect yesterday, Colorado Ethics Watch, a nonpartisan, nonprofit legal watchdog group, today bolstered its pending complaint against Secretary of State Mike Coffman by submitting additional evidence and by calling on the Commission to immediately move forward with the investigation and hearing process.

In February, Ethics Watch filed a complaint with the Independent Ethics Commission asking it to penalize Secretary of State Mike Coffman for his violations of legal standards of conduct.  This was the first complaint filed with the Independent Ethics Commission since it was approved by voters in November 2006.  With the commission’s newly adopted rules taking effect today, everything is in place for the commission to begin reviewing complaints and fulfilling its role as Colorado’s only independent body designated to enforce ethics rules across all branches of state government.

“Finally, almost two years after voters established the IEC, it is at long last open for business and has all the tools it needs to show the public that it will take ethics complaints against Colorado’s top officials seriously,” said Chantell Taylor, director of Colorado Ethics Watch.  “The Commission is fully staffed, the rules are in place and now there are no more excuses for delay.  We expect the Commission to immediately begin its investigation of Ethics Watch’s complaint against Secretary Coffman, and to expeditiously address any other pending complaints or requests for advice and guidance regarding Amendment 41’s application."

Ethics Watch’s original complaint detailed how Secretary Coffman violated his duties under state law and state personnel rules twice in 2007, including allowing at least one employee in his office to operate a partisan side business without proper authorization and disclosure, and failing to disclose a conflict of interest with one of the voting system vendors seeking certification from the secretary of state’s office.  The amendments filed today by Ethics Watch further substantiate each of the claims and include newly obtained e-mails between Secretary Coffman and staff members in his office.