Tag: Matt Smith

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.

No group empowered to pass judgment wants to think of itself as a "star chamber," least of all the Colorado panel that, until recently,...

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.

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.

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.

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.

The response to yesterday's Colorado Supreme Court ruling reinstating a ban on gifts to lawmakers has ranged from disappointment to delight -- and confusion...

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...

A year after Colorado voters approved Amendment 41 to establish strict mandates on ethics in government, a panel to oversee complaints and potential violations...