The Colorado Independent Ethics Commission ruled Friday that former Gov. John Hickenlooper violated the state’s gift ban by accepting free private flights and dinners, a day after he was held in contempt for defying a subpoena to testify.
The commission found Mr. Hickenlooper ran afoul of Amendment 41, the 2006 ballot measure that places a tight limit on gifts to public officials, with a 2018 trip to the Bilderberg Meetings in Italy, and corporate-paid private dinners at the 2016 USS Colorado christening in Groton, Connecticut.
Mr. Hickenlooper, the frontrunner for the Democratic Senate nod, accepted free flights on a private jet owned by MDC Holdings, a Denver real-estate firm led by donor Larry Mizel, and a ride in a Maserati limousine to the exclusive Bilderberg event.
“If we allow this kind of special, privately financed treatment for elected officials, it just kind of accentuates the cynicism in the public that led to Amendment 41,” said commissioner William Leone, according to the Colorado Sun.
The timing of the commission’s ruling could hardly be worse for Mr. Hickenlooper: He’s seeking the Democratic nod against Andrew Romanoff in the June 30 primary to challenge Sen. Cory Gardner, Colorado Republican, in November.
“The Commission’s message is clear—and Coloradans agree: No one is above the law,” said Mr. Romanoff in a statement.
JUST IN: John Hickenlooper violated Colorado’s gift ban, independent ethics commission rules https://t.co/XRE65aIgwa via @ByJohnFrank #copolitics
— The Colorado Sun (@ColoradoSun) June 5, 2020
NEW: @Romanoff2020 statement on @Hickenlooper ethics violations, “it wasn’t the GOP that found Mr. Hickenlooper in contempt or in violation of the State Constitution. It was Colorado’s Independent Ethics Commission… no one is above the law.” #9News #copolitics pic.twitter.com/w5BPpasMgW
— Kyle Clark (@KyleClark) June 6, 2020
Penalty number is a minor consideration — and won’t be very large in any case. The real penalty is political. #copolitics #cosen https://t.co/S92yjCzC82
— Michael Littwin (@mike_littwin) June 6, 2020
After failing to testify Thursday, Mr. Hickenlooper agreed to appear Friday and answered questions from attorneys and commissioners at a remote hearing on the complaints, filed in 2018 by former Colorado House Speaker Frank McNulty, a Republican.
The commission rejected several other alleged violations against Mr. Hickenlooper, including a ride on the private jet of Kimball Musk, brother of Elon Musk, to officiate at his wedding in Texas, finding that the trip fell under the personal-friend exception.
The commission plans to meet Friday to decide on penalties for the ethics violations and potentially ignoring the subpoena.
“I have no sympathy for the Republicans who brought this complaint. Their outrage is hard to swallow,” said Mr. Romanoff. “But it wasn’t the GOP that found Mr. Hickenlooper in contempt or in violation of the State Constitution. It was Colorado’s Independent Ethics Commission.”
Joanna Rodriguez, press secretary for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, blasted Mr. Hickenlooper’s “serious disregard for Colorado’s ethics law” and noted that his attorney, Mark Grueskin, was paid for by the taxpayers from a fund originally intended to fund the 9/11 recovery.
“Hickenlooper has spent the last week refusing to testify, ignoring subpoenas, and being found in contempt because he didn’t want to answer for his serious disregard for Colorado’s ethics laws,” said Ms. Rodriguez in a statement. “He is guilty of shrugging off the state’s ethics rules and violating the trust taxpayers had placed in him as Governor. Now he has to defend taxpayers footing the bill for his $525-an-hour lawyer out of a post-9/11 economic recovery fund.”
Mr. Hickenlooper was elected governor in 2010 and served two terms, leaving office in January 2019. He made a run for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination before dropping out in August.
Oddly enough, Mr. Hickenlooper may have a fellow Democrat, Gov. Jared Polis, to thank for his ethics bind, at least indirectly.
Mr. Polis, a multi-millionaire, was the driving force behind Amendment 41, which caps gifts to elected officials to $65 annually—it was $59 when Mr. Hickenlooper was governor—and any gifts from lobbyists.
Former Colorado Deputy Secretary of State Suzanne Staiert, who argued the ethics case for the conservative Public Trust Institute, commended the commission’s decision.
“We are pleased we were able to have a hearing where we finally show how out of touch John Hickenlooper is with the expectations Coloradans have of their elected officials,” she said in an email.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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