Tag: Colorado Independent Ethics Commission

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.

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.

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.

The testimony continues on allegations before the Colorado Independent Ethics Commission that Mike Coffman engaged in misconduct while secretary of state. The charges of misconduct according to Colorado Ethics Watch: • "Secretary Coffman allowed at least one employee in his office to operate a partisan side business without proper authorization and disclosure – a business that was patently incompatible with the official duties of that employee." • "Secretary Coffman failed to disclose a conflict of interest between him and one of the voting system vendors seeking certification from the secretary of state’s office – the only vendor that Secretary Coffman agreed to certify."

Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Aurora) answers conflict of interest charges leveled by Colorado Ethics Watch during his stint as secretary of state today in what promises to be a highly charged hearing. The newly-empaneled Colorado Independent Ethics Commission is probing watchdog allegations that Coffman allowed GOP operative Dan Kopelman, then an employee of the department and a former Coffman campaign staffer, to operate a side business selling partisan voter data in violation of state ethics guidelines. The second charge stems from Coffman's approval of a voting machine contract to Premier Election Systems (formerly Diebold) while the firm was also represented by Phase Line Strategies — Coffman's political consultant in his congressional race.