Ethics committee votes to ‘admonish’ lobbyist for trying to influence race

A legislative panel on Wednesday recommended that a former lobbyist for the Colorado Chiropractic Association (CCA) be formally scolded for trying to sway a freshman Republican to vote for Rep. David Balmer (R-Centennial) in a leadership election in December. An ethics watchdog group praised the committee’s recommendation but renewed calls for a criminal investigation into vote-buying allegations and asked legislators to mandate ethics training for professional lobbyists.