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.

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 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.

Coffman hails exoneration by ethics panel, blasts ‘failed partisan scheme’

In a withering response to the unanimous decision handed down Tuesday morning by a state ethics panel clearing him of misconduct charges, U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman castigated the nonprofit organization that filed the complaint with Colorado’s Independent Ethics Commission more than a year ago.

BREAKING: Ethics panel throws out complaint against Coffman

The Colorado Independent Ethics Commission dismissed a complaint Tuesday morning against U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman, who was charged by an ethics watchdog group with having conflicts of interest when he was secretary of state two years ago.

State ethics panel set to meet yet again Monday on Coffman complaint

U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman could finally learn early next week whether a state panel has decided he acted properly or violated Colorado ethical guidelines. The Colorado Independent Ethics Commission is meeting in a telephone conference Monday morning to discuss a complaint against the former Colorado secretary of state, who faces conflict-of-interest charges stemming from his time running the state’s top elections office two years ago.

It’s the third secret session the panel has held on the complaint since Coffman testified at an all-day hearing more than a month ago.

Colorado ethics panel huddles to prep decision on Coffman complaint

A state ethics commission is meeting in a telephone conference Tuesday morning to prepare a ruling on a complaint charging former Colorado Secretary of State Mike Coffman with acting unethically when he ran the state’s top elections office two years ago. The panel could issue its decision at any time between Tuesday afternoon and its next scheduled meeting on Monday.

Ethics panel set to hand down ruling on Coffman allegations

A state ethics panel plans to release its ruling on or before April 6 on a complaint charging former Colorado Secretary of State Mike Coffman with acting unethically when he ran the state’s top elections office two years ago.

Coffman employs the ‘look! shiny!’ defense against ethics charges

The Denver Post dutifully reports U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman’s complaints today that he has been the subject of a partisan “jihad” by the watchdog group Colorado Ethics Watch. Unfortunately, political watchers expect the red herring rhetoric has only just begun in the wake of Coffman’s March 6 hearing on charges of misconduct before the Colorado Independent Ethics Commission.

What Coffman can’t deflect are the facts contained in the Colorado State Auditor’s blistering Dec. 2007 report outlining serious mismanagement during his brief two-year tenure as secretary of state that formed the basis of the formal ethics complaint.