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March 30, 2011 05:09 AM UTC

Morse Answers Per Diem Complaint

1 Comments
by: Colorado Pols

As the Colorado Statesman’s Marianne Goodland reports–says Sen. John Morse about the complaint filed against him by the Colorado Government Accountability Project (CoGAP), and as the press seems also to have realized, there’s just not a lot of “there” there:

Sen. John Morse, D-Colorado Springs, has asked that an ethics complaint filed against him by the Colorado Government Accountability Project (CoGAP) be dismissed on grounds that it fails to “articulate a factual basis, the particulars of a charge” and the alleged violations of law cited in the complaint. “It falls short of demonstrating any cause whatsoever, much less probable cause that a violation of Senate rules has occurred,” Morse wrote in his March 28 letter to the Senate Ethics Committee…

“The [CoGAP] complaint cites no statute, rule or regulation as the standard of conduct required or constrained,” Morse wrote. “There are no statements of fact that can be measured against any standard of conduct, even if one were offered.”

With regard to collecting per diem for legislative leadership activities, Morse said leadership work adds significantly to legislative responsibilities, and the Legislature provides per diem to reflect the increased workload. “Ms. Cegielski offers her personal opinion of what the standard for per diem should be,” Morse said. “Presumably, a member of leadership claims the reimbursement when doing work related directly to his leadership responsibilities,” Cegielski wrote in her complaint.

But Cegielski’s interpretation is not supported by the complaint “and is contrary to both the statute and legislative intent,” Morse responded.

Cegielski used as sole proof of her allegations a comparison of Morse’s 2009 calendar and the per diem requests. “Ms. Cegielski made assumptions that if my calendar was blank on a particular day then I did not work on legislative matters,” Morse wrote, and that if the calendar was inconsistent with the reimbursement form, the calendar was “the controlling document. The reverse is true – the forms, certified and submitted for reimbursement, control,” Morse said.

Meaning that the actual documentation is what matters, not some silly Google calendar. It seems to us that the only reason this “scandal” has been in circulation as long as it has is the reluctance of the media to give it the time of day–one way or another. Since CoGAP’s complaint appears to be folding up like an accordion under very casual scrutiny, perhaps having paid more attention to their allegations would have had the effect of debunking them sooner.

On the other hand, you can’t really expect the media to waste their time like that.

One thought on “Morse Answers Per Diem Complaint”

shrubHugger says:

March 30, 2011 at 7:22 pm

Morse also said the claim that he had collected per diem far in excess of other legislative leaders was inappropriate, and that the better measure would be the workload associated with his position.

Morse cited the number of assigned committees, out of session, that he was responsible for, in contrast to the attendance at out of session committees by other legislative leaders. Morse attended 31 meetings of six different committees; more than all the committee attendance made by the other five legislative leaders combined. Morse attached minutes of all of those meetings that showed his attendance, as well as records reflecting the attendance of the other legislative leaders at out of session committee meetings.

If he can sue, I hope he does.

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Morse Answers Per Diem Complaint

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