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January 08, 2010 07:16 PM UTC

2009: The Year In Scandal

  • 26 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

Colorado Ethics Watch released their top 5 ethics scandals of 2009 yesterday–release follows, topping the list is gubernatorial candidate Scott McInnis’ infamous “our 527” voicemail. Those were the good times, back when supporters of Josh Penry handled McInnis’ bedevilment and Democrats made popcorn. Don’t you miss those days?

Rounding out their list you have the dubious appointment of the new CSU chancellor, our ethics-troubled ethics commission, the tragic love story of Gale Norton and Jack Abramoff, and (for good measure) state Rep. Jack Pommer’s fascinating paperwork compliance issues.

It was a lively year, even without vacation per diem, “reparations” demands, any kicking of photojournalists or legislators whipping out their junk. But just making that list brings back so many memories…

H/T: Westword

Ethics Watch Names Colorado’s Top Five Ethics Scandals of 2009

DENVER — Across the state, political and ethical scandals were one of the highlights of water cooler discussion last year. Colorado Ethics Watch, a nonpartisan, nonprofit legal watchdog group, today released its list of the Top Five Ethics Scandals of 2009 based on a busy year of watching, researching and litigating in many of these circumstances.

“Colorado’s worst ethics problems occur across party lines, in agencies, among elected and non-elected officials and all around the state,” said Director Luis Toro. “There is much work to be done to educate public officials, and Ethics Watch will remain vigilant in exposing other ethics crimes and misdeeds in 2010.”

Ethics Watch’s second annual Top Ethics Scandals list does not attempt to rank these scandals in a particular order — they are all outrageous. Based on news reports, egregiousness of the situation, and the timeline of attention each situation received, the following are Ethics Watch’s Top Five Ethics Scandals of 2009:

1) Gubernatorial Quasi-Candidate Scott McInnis Leaves Damning Voice Mail: As early as May 2009, former Congressman Scott McInnis (R-Grand Junction) was expected to run for governor, but had not publicly announced his candidacy nor filed the appropriate registration. However, McInnis was busy making campaign calls, indicating he was running for governor, had his team in place, and was putting together a 527. Under pressure from Ethics Watch and the media, McInnis quietly filed his paperwork for candidacy on May 19, but questions still remain as to the activities he was conducting prior to registering as a candidate, and potential coordination with a 527, which would violate state election laws.

2) CSU Board of Governors Hands Plum Job to One of Their Own in Secret Meeting: As vice president of the Colorado State University (CSU) Board of Governors, Joe Blake participated in a decision to create a chancellor position separate from the president position. Mr. Blake formally submitted his application for this very position on April 29. On May 5, the CSU Board of Governors had a closed-door executive session meeting during which they decided that Mr. Blake would be the sole finalist for the chancellor position. That meeting was ruled to violate Colorado Open Meetings laws. CSU paid three media outlets $19,000 in legal fees and released the tapes of the closed-door session.

3) The Independent Ethics Commission’s Troubles with Transparency: The Colorado Independent Ethics Commission (IEC) was created to be the premier ethics body in Colorado. Instead of setting an example of how a state commission should act, the IEC spent much of 2009 unsuccessfully defending itself from allegations that it was illegally operating in secret. In May, the IEC was ordered by a Denver District Court Judge to release records subject to an Ethics Watch open records request and to pay Ethics Watch’s attorneys’ fees. In September, another Denver District Court Judge ruled that the IEC was in violation of Colorado’s open meetings laws, and ordered the IEC to release records from the meetings to a media outlet. And finally in December, a third judge ruled that the IEC debated an advisory opinion in secret, again violating open meetings laws.

4) Gale Norton’s Questionable Oil Industry Work: In September 2009 the Department of Justice issued subpoenas as part of an investigation into Bush administration Interior Secretary and former Colorado Attorney General Gale Norton. The Department of Justice is reportedly investigating whether Gale Norton used her position in the Interior Department to benefit Royal Dutch Shell by allowing her department to enter into three potentially lucrative amendments to oil leases with Royal Dutch Shell on federal land in Colorado, then took a job as an adviser to the oil-shale division of Royal Dutch Shell.

5) Representative Pommer’s Campaign Finance Violations and “Bad at Paperwork” Defense: Representative Jack Pommer (D-Boulder), a candidate in the 2008 general election for the Colorado House of Representatives, missed filing four separate campaign finance reports between October 2008 and January 2009. After media exposure of the delinquency, Pommer filed his report on April 6, 2009, and claimed that he was simply “bad at paperwork.” The Secretary of State’s office imposed fines of more than $4,000 on Pommer.

The full report with more details about each of these scandals, including Ethics Watch actions and litigation on these issues, can be found online at www.coloradoforethics.org.

Colorado Ethics Watch is a non-profit, legal watchdog group dedicated to identifying and exposing ethics issues in city, county and state governments in Colorado, ultimately holding public officials accountable. Colorado Ethics Watch is the only state-specific project of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). For more information, please visit www.coloradoforethics.org or call (303) 626-2100 or e-mail info@coloradoforethics.org.

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26 thoughts on “2009: The Year In Scandal”

    1. …has about as much impartiality as Media Matters = None.

      This would be like reading an Enterprise Institute’s list of corrupt politicians.

      1. In Colorado, anyway?  And I’d like to see your list at least have the seriousness of CEW’s list – i.e. there should be some “heft” to the scandal.  Three of the issues above resulted in court judgments; one is supposedly under formal investigation, and the remaining one (and winner) is self-incriminating.

        1. We must never forget to thank Josh Penry and his minions for breaking that little delightful story. I really can’t wait for that to come up during the campaign.

          “Sean Tonner” is “doin’ our 5-uh … (cough) … or a 527. …”

          What’s ironic is it was that very 527 that was ready to destroy Penry had he stayed in the race. Ahhh, politics.

    4. Unreported in the Ethics Watch press release and inexplicably ignored by local media is the latest turn of events with the IEC being dinged with a $21,000 fine by Judge Larry Naves — a significant portion of its annual budget.

      Former Colorado Independent political reporter Ernest Luning’s extraordinary digging that resulted in the lawsuit found the state’s top ethics panel violated Open Meeting Laws by conducting 85 percent of its hearings behind closed doors and that it failed to properly disclose its deliberations.

      (Disclosure: I edited Ernest’s stories and at one point served as the plaintiff until I resigned from the Independent on June 30).

      The unlawful precedents set by the toothless and overly secretive IEC most certainly affected the behavior of politicians, candidates and state employees who had no fear of repercussions. Compound that unintended consequence with potential government whistle blowers who refused to step forward and risk their livelihoods for a kangaroo court.

      Newly appointed IEC members and a sorely needed change of board leadership, spurred by the lawsuit and Ernest’s dogged reporting, has signaled a renewed commitment to its voter-mandated accountability and transparency mission under Amendment 41.

      Now the question becomes whether the general assembly will adequately fund the panel so it can effectively perform its job or will lawmakers perpetuate a financially-constricted paper tiger.

      One would hope that a smart 2010 candidate, committed to ethical and accountable government, would raise that issue with voters.

    5. And they still don’t know what’s ethical.

      Where’s the Ritter $200,000 worth of photos paid for by the state?

      Where’s the Ritter appointee funded by special interests?

      How ethical is it for Michael Bennet to do what he does?

      This is such a joke.

  2. Obama doesn’t use the justice Department the way Bush did to go after Democrats.

    I had a co worker that is a birther  active in that movement on the Western.She went back there after her contract terminated.

    She stated Blacks are slow intellectualy.

    All Latinos should be profiled and harassed to show papers on demand due to feed  her suspicion that they are illegal.

    She stated that Jews don’t respect the American flag, and Holocaust survivors aren’t grateul for liberation.

    Needless to say, she has a hard time holding a job.

    I think that she is typical.

    2. foolish enough to think we have fully crossed over into being “white”. There should be a box to check for “conditionally white enough for most general purposes”.  

          1. Nixon only insuled Jews in private.Reagan attended that cemetary with SS officers and opened his campaign in Mississippi to demonstrate that he gives a pass to murdering freedom riders.

            I guess that you might be correct. Bush joked Jews are going to hell.

            The Republicans are bigots. I tried to be reasonble, but you’ve proven that they are hate filled aristocratic bigots.

            Thanks for edifying me.

    4. The lady obviously has tremendous interpersonal skills. We all run into people on the left and right like her every now and then. They have rough lives because they’re so angry about everything and at everyone.

  3. Yes, I’m close to this one, but one political result is that VoteVets.org will not me spending any money in this state on Political advertising.

    Now, that only makes an impact on CD6, where I’m sure LTC Flerledge will hoot about something. But is the War in AFPAK and Iraq enough of an issue to creep into the Senate campaign?

    I doubt it…

            1. Not only is she a former Colorado attorney general, but the scandal was Colorado-specific. She is accused of

              allowing her department to enter into three potentially lucrative amendments to oil leases with Royal Dutch Shell on federal land in Colorado.

  4. Looking over the lists of ethics problems or lapses in Colorado does not have the thrills and chills that other states have.

    At the Federal level our Reps and Senators get TV interview time to explain policy, not excuses as to why their houses were built by lobbyists. Or their new cars have a second family driving them around.

    At the state level we have politicians explaining why they are ready to do in TABOR or want to cut out what is left of the budget. Occasionally there is some mumbling about why they are so stupid as to leave voice mail. Don’t they know about anonymous websites to use so they can send nasty Tweets?

    We haven’t have a decent sex for whatever ethics failure scandal in years.  About the last one was Aurora’s Fire Chief using city paid golf time to make it with one of the city’s employees. Even our lobbyists are ready to keep ethics above the pool table by letting know that a certain representative wanted to go out of the usual lobbyist-legislator relationship.

    All of which makes me proud to live in Colorado.  So far we haven’t had ethical failures that many other states have had. We have for the most part good and honest politicians.

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