Ethics Watch today filed a complaint with the Aurora City Clerk against Aurora Council Member Ryan Frazier for failure to file accurate financial disclosures between 2007 and 2009. 

Council Member Frazier has been a member of the Aurora City Council since 2003. The Aurora Municipal Code requires “full disclosure” from City Council members of the “source of any income or losses.” Reports he filed between 2007 and 2009 have been contradicted by other public statements about Council Member Frazier’s sources of income. Specifically, his financial disclosure forms claim he has been employed by Raytheon since 2004, with no changes since; but his public statements and online biographies indicate he has changed employment to Avaya Corporation and again to Takara Systems.

Most recently, Council Member Frazier’s financial disclosure statement for 2009, which reaffirms for the fifth consecutive year that he is still employed by Raytheon, is contradicted by an announcement he made at a City Council meeting in September 2006, that he had recently decided “to leave his employment with the Raytheon Corporation to move on to the Avaya Corporation.” Two months after announcing his change of employment, Council Member Frazier sent an email to the city clerk in lieu of his requisite disclosure statement saying that “there are no changes that I can think of.” This same omission has carried over into the 2008 and 2009 reports, which would mean that a person reviewing Council Member Frazier’s disclosure reports is given inaccurate information that he is still employed by Raytheon.

Mr. Frazier’s current U.S. senate exploratory campaign website states that he is now a business partner at Takara Systems and that he “previously” worked for Raytheon and Avaya – creating further confusion and evidence of inaccurate reporting.

“Council Member Frazier’s sources of income today and over the past 3 years are far from clear,” said Chantell Taylor, director of Colorado Ethics Watch.  “The financial disclosure requirement exists because citizens deserve to know where an elected official’s allegiances lie – how else can the public scrutinize potential conflicts of interest? Council Member Frazier’s apparent failure to comply with this simple filing requirement is inexcusable.”

Update July 7, 2009:  Aurora City Clerk Debra Johnson has notified Ethics Watch that as a result of Ethics Watch's complaint, Council Member Frazier has corrected his disclosures and has not asserted that he did not violate Aurora disclosure requirements.  Ms. Johnson's letter to Ethics Watch, and Council Member Frazier's corrected disclosure statement, are posted on the right side of this page.