The Colorado Independent

Tuesday, June 18th, 2013

Posts Tagged Matt Smith

Judge: Colorado’s top ethics panel broke open meetings law

By | 09.02.09 | 12:15 am

DENVER — The Colorado Independent Ethics Commission violated the state’s Open Meetings Law when it failed to convene a dozen closed-door meetings held earlier this year according to strict legal requirements, a Denver District Court judge has ruled. Because the ethics panel didn’t follow the law, the court ordered the state’s top ethics panel to “immediately” release all records of any improperly closed meeting, even those the commission claims are protected by attorney-client privilege.

State’s top ethics panel agrees during secret enclave: We’re no star chamber

By | 08.06.09 | 3:30 pm

No group empowered to pass judgment wants to think of itself as a “star chamber,” least of all the Colorado panel that, until recently, regularly met for hours on end in secret to formulate ethical decrees. At least that’s…

Recordings: Ethics panel deliberated, reached decisions in secret meetings

By | 08.06.09 | 1:49 pm

The state’s top ethics panel routinely deliberated in private only to emerge with positions ready for adoption in swift, unanimous public votes, audio recordings of the closed-door meetings reveal. The Colorado Independent Ethics Commission also discussed topics in executive session it hadn’t described in detail — or at all, in some cases — as state law requires.

Anatomy of a decision: Ethics panel reaches agreement in secret meeting

By | 08.06.09 | 1:40 pm

What does it look like when a government body debates and makes decisions in a closed-door executive session? Pretty much the same as it would in public — which the law requires — except that only the meeting’s participants get to see what went into the decision.

Ethics panel agrees to release recordings of secret meetings

By | 08.03.09 | 12:15 am

DENVER — Colorado’s top ethics panel agreed Friday to release unedited audio recordings of two secret meetings and plans to turn over redacted recordings of five additional closed-door meetings conducted earlier this year. The announcement came during a hearing in Denver District Court on a lawsuit filed by The Colorado Independent alleging the Colorado Independent Ethics Commission illegally met behind closed doors a dozen times between January and May.

State’s top ethics panel moves toward more open, transparent procedures

By | 06.19.09 | 4:31 am

Six weeks after an investigation by The Colorado Independent found repeated violations of the Colorado Open Meetings Law by the Independent Ethics Commission, the panel charged with enforcing ethical standards among public officials across the state has taken dramatic steps toward greater transparency and disclosure.

No Word From Ethics Commish – Other Than It Doesn’t Exist

By | 02.26.08 | 4:20 pm

The response to yesterday’s Colorado Supreme Court ruling reinstating a ban on gifts to lawmakers has ranged from disappointment to delight — and confusion of the type that has marked Amendment 41 since its inception. In the afternoon, members…

Supremes Bring Gift Ban Back; Still No Ethics Commission

By | 02.25.08 | 12:12 pm

The Colorado Supreme Court today tossed out the injunction barring Colorado’s ethics in government law — in essence ruling it’s up to the state’s five-member ethics commission to implement and enforce the law. The only problem is, more than a…

Ex-Lawmaker Named To Slowly Forming Ethics Panel

By | 11.07.07 | 1:07 pm

A year after Colorado voters approved Amendment 41 to establish strict mandates on ethics in government, a panel to oversee complaints and potential violations is not yet assembled. But the latest appointment to the panel, a well-known former lawmaker from…

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