Colorado’s Independent Ethics Commission will investigate a group of 17 Democratic lawmakers, including Rep. Katie Stewart, for potentially taking gifts from special interest groups at a retreat in Vail in October – something that could potentially violate Colorado’s 41st Amendment.
The Colorado Sun originally reported that the Opportunity Caucus gathered with lobbyists at a retreat in Vail representing clients from the real estate, restaurant, tech and energy industries, as well as two Colorado cities and a credit union. Questions have been raised about who paid for the event, including a $25,000 block of hotel rooms. Nonpartisan watchdog group Common Cause Colorado filed a complaint regarding the retreat with the ethics commission in November.
The Durango Herald sent Stewart a list of questions regarding the investigation. In an e-mailed response, Stewart said her caucus is focused on delivering constituents in Southwest Colorado results, which the Vail retreat would help her to do.
“My focus is on delivering real results for Southwest Colorado – expanding access to rural healthcare, strengthening opportunities for families and small businesses, and ensuring my constituents have the tools they need to build the lives they deserve,” Stewart said. “That is why I attended the October event, which was lawful and fully compliant with requirements. That work will not be distracted by political games from Denver insiders.”
Common Cause’s executive director Ali Belknap said the event clearly violated Colorado’s constitution. Common Cause was founded in the 1970s after the Watergate scandal with the goal of holding politicians to account and creating more transparency between the government and the people.
Common Cause was a leading voice in the passing of Colorado’s 41st Amendment in 2006, which created the Independent Ethics Committee and stipulates that elected lawmakers cannot take gifts from lobbyists above $75. Belknap said a closed-door meeting between lawmakers and lobbyists – with thousands in donations from a nonprofit that The Colorado Sun calls a “dark money group” – raised red flags.
“We found out about this meetup and the alleged illegal gift that took place at the same time that the public did when we read about it in The Colorado Sun,” Belknap said. “We saw the very important principles and rules outlined in Amendment 41 brazenly violated. That was spilling out on front page news, and it’s really our responsibility as a nonpartisan watchdog organization to take that seriously, and to intervene if we do feel the law has been violated.”
The reason why Common Cause supported the 41st Amendment is to keep big money out of politics in the Centennial State, and make sure that public servants continue to serve the public first and foremost.
“We ensure that (the 41st Amendment) is enforced and that the critical protections of the gift ban are upheld so the public interest don’t suffer death by a million cuts over time,” Belknap said. “It’s extremely important that donations are disclosed so that the public can understand the interests at play in our state and in their local community seeking to exert influence over the policymaking process. American government is designed to be by and for the people. It’s a sacred contract between elected officials and their constituents that they serve.”
Belknap said the Vail meetup was barely, if at all, disclosed to the public. She said the Opportunity Caucus should be more proactive in addressing it, especially with such hard evidence showing that they may have violated the constitution.
“Every day that’s gone by has represented an opportunity for these legislators to take action to restore the public trust,” Belknap said. “We believe that the law was broken, and that there is such hard evidence to the payment of this $25,000 for these hotel rooms. We think that these individual legislators have a lot of agency here to take steps to restore the public’s trust. I think the public have been really waiting for that since the day this was on the front page.”
Even if the investigation shows that Opportunity Caucus stayed within the bounds of the law, Belknap said the process has shown that democracy’s guardrails are functioning. Additionally, this investigation could help understand where loopholes in the law may exist, leading to more accountability.
“Regardless of the outcome, it was extremely important that this conversation happened and that we discussed what accountability looks like here,” Belknap said. “Thousands of Coloradans read an article that told them that their elected officials are in relationship with special interests that puts the public interest at a disadvantage. By filing this, we’ve made a statement, and we hope this will result in more mindfulness going forward on behalf of our elected officials.”
According to Independent Ethics Committee Dino Ioannides, the Opportunity Caucus still needs to file a formal response to Common Cause’s complaint before the investigation begins.
sedmondson@durangoherald.com
