Ethics commission says it will release complaints it has dismissed this year

A watchdog group will get the chance to read complaints filed this year with the state’s top ethics panel alleging wrongdoing or ethical misconduct by public officials. Reversing its policy, the Independent Ethics Commission notified Colorado Ethics Watch on Wednesday it would release “all non-frivolous complaints filed in 2009.”

The move is in response to a Colorado Open Records Request from the nonprofit group and in light of a judge’s decision last week that said the government ethics panel can’t keep other documents from public view.

Watchdog group sues ethics panel to reverse decision that OK’d Turkey ‘junket’

An ethics watchdog group wants a judge to overturn a ruling by the state’s top ethics panel that says it’s OK for a Colorado lawmaker to accept a trip to Turkey from a Aurora-based cultural foundation, claiming the ruling violates a gift ban in the state constitution.

Judge rules state ethics panel can’t conceal documents from public view

A judge on Thursday ordered Colorado’s top ethics panel to turn over records it went to court to keep secret, including letters from lawmakers and government employees asking for guidance on ethical questions.

Ethics Watch says it won’t appeal ruling dismissing Coffman complaint

The watchdog group that filed ethics charges against former Secretary of State Mike Coffman said Thursday it won’t appeal a ruling by the state’s top ethics panel that dismissed a complaint alleging the Aurora Republican, who has since won election to Congress, crossed ethical boundaries when he served as the state’s top elections officer.

Instead, Colorado Ethics Watch called on Coffman and his attorney to help “create a more thorough, accessible and transparent process” for the Independent Ethics Commission to investigate and resolve ethics complaints. The nonprofit group slammed the five-member ethics panel, saying it “shirked its constitutional responsibility to conduct an investigation” and tied the hands of lawyers arguing both sides of the case.

Ethics panel investigation featured on KGNU

Ernest Luning continues the discussion this morning on our exclusive reporting on improprieties by the Colorado Independent Ethics Commission that continues to repeatedly hold secretive, closed-door meetings.

The state’s top ethics panel Friday denied the Colorado Independent’s request for recordings of 14 illegally convened meetings just this year that appear to violate state Open Meetings Law. Ironically, the commission was established in 2006 when voters passed Amendment 41 to demand greater transparency and accountability in government.

Tune into KGNU-88.5 FM Boulder/1390 AM Denver at 8:05 a.m. or listen on the livestream.

Luning on AM 760 to talk on ethics commission probe

TCI’s own Ernest Luning will appear on the Jay Marvin Show today at 9:00 a.m. MDT to discuss our on-going investigation of the Colorado Independent Ethics Commission and its penchant for flouting Open Meetings Law.

Join the AM 760 livestream at the “Listen Up” link.

Bonus track: The Coloradoan’s Bob Moore is chatting now about the open meetings lawsuit filed by the Fort Collins-based paper, the Pueblo Chieftain and the Colorado Independent last week against the Colorado State University Board of Governors. We have requested a Larimer County judge review recordings of board meetings to determine whether violations occurred during its secretive, closed-door selection of the CSU system chancellor.

Ethics commission says it won’t turn over recordings of secret meetings

The state’s top ethics panel formally denied a request for recordings of 14 secret meetings held this year that The Colorado Independent alleges violated the Colorado Open Meetings Law.

The Independent is seeking access to audiotapes or minutes of closed-door sessions held between January 14 and April 21 by the Colorado Independent Ethics Commission, arguing they are public records because the secret enclaves were illegally convened.

Watchdogs: Ethics panel challenging ‘all legal boundaries’ to meet in secret

A nonprofit watchdog group says Colorado’s top ethics panel should set an example for government transparency rather than “challenging all legal boundaries” by “conducting official business in secret.” Colorado Ethics Watch decried how the state Independent Ethics Commission “stealthily conducts business” in a response to Wednesday’s Colorado Independent story detailing legal questions about the panel’s penchant for meeting behind closed doors.

Legal questions surround secret meetings of state ethics commission

The Colorado Independent on Tuesday asked the state’s top ethics panel to turn over recordings of more than a dozen secret meetings held this year — including closed sessions where a member of the panel reported deliberating on an ethics complaint filed against former Secretary of State Mike Coffman, who won election to Congress last fall — charging the panel with violating the state’s Open Meetings Law.

Ethics group rips panel’s decision clearing Coffman, says it might appeal

An ethics watchdog group on Tuesday slammed the long-awaited decision by a state ethics panel that cleared U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman of wrongdoing when he served as Colorado secretary of state, saying the Independent Ethics Commission shirked its duty to investigate allegations of official misconduct and tied the hands of the group that brought the charges.