Today, Commissioner Jan Doran of the Colorado Springs Independent Ethics Commission announced that she will recuse herself from further participation in proceedings regarding the ethics complaint filed by Ronald S. Johnson against Mayor Lionel Rivera.  Commissioner Doran's announcement came shortly after Ethics Watch said she should withdraw because her work on Mayor Rivera's political campaigns created the appearance of a conflict of interest.

On May 4, 2009, Ronald S. Johnson filed an ethics complaint against Colorado Springs Mayor Lionel Rivera, alleging that Mayor Rivera had a conflict of interest with regard to the City's involvement in a United States Olympic Committee (USOC) development project, due to the mayor's alleged business relationship with other parties to the USOC deal. On June 3, the Colorado Springs Gazette reported Ethics Watch's position that Commissioner Doran should withdraw from considering the Rivera complaint because she had worked actively on Mayor Rivera's unsuccessful congressional campaign in 2006 and was a member of his campaign committee during his 2007 re-election campaign.  Commissioner Doran announced her decision to withdraw from the ethics probe at today's meeting of the Colorado Springs City Council.

Ethics Watch Director Chantell Taylor issued the following statement:

“We applaud Ms. Doran for taking the high road, as should be expected in every instance from any ethics commissioner, by withdrawing herself from hearing the pending complaint against Mayor Rivera based on her ties to his electoral campaigns.  As we said from the outset, the appearance of impropriety would taint any decision by the Commission. The public deserves an ethics review of its Mayor that is free of any possible bias.”

The Colorado Springs Independent Ethics Commission was created in 2007.   It has jurisdiction over complaints alleging violations of the Colorado Springs Code of Ethics by elected officials, appointees, and independent contractors of the City of Colorado Springs.  The commission has the power to issue subpoenas and make recommendations to the City Council regarding whether a violation of the Code of Ethics has occurred.  The commission's website can be found here.