Former Colorado Governor guilty of ethics violations.
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Nothing to see here, move along.
Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper violated state law when he took a flight aboard a corporate jet owned by a top political donor and accepted transportation in a Maserati limousine at a conference in Italy, an ethics panel ruled Friday.
Three other private flights aboard company planes owned by friends did not violate the state’s constitutional ban on public officials receiving gifts. The Colorado Independent Ethics Commission rejected those elements of the complaint after deciding that the travel fit an exemption in the law because it was a gift from a friend or a benefit to the state.
The verdict in the case — the state’s most high-profile ethics trial since voters approved the ban in 2006 — came after a two-day hearing that started dramatically with Hickenlooper refusing to testify and being held in contempt. The commission delayed a decision about potential sanctions for the ethics violations and the contempt charge to June 12, but he faces a fine that amounts to double the benefits he received.
“If we allow this kind of special privately financed treatment for elected officials, it just accentuates the cynicism in the public that led to Amendment 41,” said Bill Leone, a commission member and a former U.S. attorney who voted in favor of the violations.
The more immediate impact is political. The complaint was filed in October 2018 by the conservative Public Trust Institute. And now Hickenlooper is vying to be the Democratic nominee in the U.S. Senate race against Republican incumbent Cory Gardner, and the decision comes just days before voters begin receiving their ballots for the June 30 primary.
Shortly after the decision, Hickenlooper’s campaign issued a statement that did not address the substance of the commission’s rulings, but it acknowledged that they expect it to be exploited in negative campaign ads.
I'm sure his opponents will pounce on this...
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"My pronouns are FA/FO." - Mik, 2024
