Tag: Mike Coffman
Ethics panel agrees to release recordings of secret meetings
DENVER — Colorado’s top ethics panel agreed Friday to release unedited audio recordings of two secret meetings and plans to turn over redacted recordings of five additional closed-door meetings conducted earlier this year. The announcement came during a hearing in Denver District Court on a lawsuit filed by The Colorado Independent alleging the Colorado Independent Ethics Commission illegally met behind closed doors a dozen times between January and May.
Rep. Salazar takes green heat for bucking climate change bill
Colorado environmental groups were quick to criticize Democratic Congressman John Salazar Saturday after he joined the two Republican members of the state delegation in...
Polis joins Republicans Coffman, Lamborn voting against war funding
Talk about strange bedfellows. Tuesday night, liberal Democrat Jared Polis joined Colorado's two Republicans -- U.S. Reps. Mike Coffman and Doug Lamborn -- voting against the $106 billion Iraq-Afghanistan war funding bill, which narrowly passed the House of Representatives on a 226-202 vote with strong Democratic support. The remainder of the state's House members, all four Democrats, voted for the bill.
Coffman slams Ritter as ‘terrorist sympathizer’ over Piñon Canyon law
U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman minced no words in a bizarre, Cheney-esque attack on Gov. Bill Ritter as a "terrorist sympathizer" for signing a new state law that stymies future expansion of the Army's contentious Piñon Canyon training site proposal.
Ethics commission says it will release complaints it has dismissed this...
A watchdog group will get the chance to read complaints filed this year with the state's top ethics panel alleging wrongdoing or ethical misconduct by public officials. Reversing its policy, the Independent Ethics Commission notified Colorado Ethics Watch on Wednesday it would release "all non-frivolous complaints filed in 2009."
The move is in response to a Colorado Open Records Request from the nonprofit group and in light of a judge's decision last week that said the government ethics panel can't keep other documents from public view.
Judge rules state ethics panel can’t conceal documents from public view
A judge on Thursday ordered Colorado's top ethics panel to turn over records it went to court to keep secret, including letters from lawmakers and government employees asking for guidance on ethical questions.
Ethics Watch says it won’t appeal ruling dismissing Coffman complaint
The watchdog group that filed ethics charges against former Secretary of State Mike Coffman said Thursday it won't appeal a ruling by the state's top ethics panel that dismissed a complaint alleging the Aurora Republican, who has since won election to Congress, crossed ethical boundaries when he served as the state's top elections officer.
Instead, Colorado Ethics Watch called on Coffman and his attorney to help "create a more thorough, accessible and transparent process" for the Independent Ethics Commission to investigate and resolve ethics complaints. The nonprofit group slammed the five-member ethics panel, saying it "shirked its constitutional responsibility to conduct an investigation" and tied the hands of lawyers arguing both sides of the case.
Coffman bucks GOP caucus, votes for hate crime law
District Six Republican Rep. Mike Coffman joined the entire Colorado Democratic delegation and 17 GOP colleagues in a rare moment on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives Wednesday — a bipartisan vote on a controversial issue among conservative activists.
Ethics group rips panel’s decision clearing Coffman, says it might appeal
An ethics watchdog group on Tuesday slammed the long-awaited decision by a state ethics panel that cleared U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman of wrongdoing when he served as Colorado secretary of state, saying the Independent Ethics Commission shirked its duty to investigate allegations of official misconduct and tied the hands of the group that brought the charges.
Coffman hails exoneration by ethics panel, blasts ‘failed partisan scheme’
In a withering response to the unanimous decision handed down Tuesday morning by a state ethics panel clearing him of misconduct charges, U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman castigated the nonprofit organization that filed the complaint with Colorado's Independent Ethics Commission more than a year ago.