Colorado’s voter-passed Amendment 41 put the clamp down on most gifts to government officials and employees a decade ago — but not in the state’s largest cities, which have set or kept less-restrictive local ethics rules. Now, the state’s ethics commission has delivered a shot across the bow of Denver, Aurora, Colorado Springs and dozens of other home-rule cities, signaling that such independence may be in jeopardy. In a position statement approved by the Colorado Independent Ethics Commission the week before Christmas, the five-member board unanimously put home-rule cities and counties on notice: It will consider hearing ethics complaints against their officials and employees if it judges their local ethics codes to be less restrictive than Amendment 41, which famously set a $50 gift limit (now $59) and banned even free drinks from lobbyists. That posture could affect Denver and more than 70 other home-rule cities and towns that were established by charters and have local ethics rules that they view as sufficient to opt out of Amendment 41. Related ArticlesJanuary 11, 2017 Hancock administration seeks big boost in salary for Denver licensing director January 11, 2017 Denver officials start talks about allowing evening marijuana store hours, as neighboring cities do January 10, 2017 Denver creates potential for competition in city tax dollars for developmentally disabled January 9, 2017 Denver council approves gift-report rules that require more frequency, better access January 3, 2017 DIA awards $120 million contract to revamp checked baggage screening Many of those lack similarly firm catch-all gift bans and set higher maximum values on allowed meals, event tickets and other things considered gifts — or don’t set dollar limits at all. “In this instance the Commission finds that there is a state interest in setting and maintaining ethical standards within the state of Colorado,” says the commission’s five-page position statement.
Colorado Ethics Commission Puts Denver, Aurora And Other Cities On Notice In Turf Battle Over Gift Rules
Jon Murray, Denver Post
Sat, 01/14/2017 - 6:40pm
Topics: colorado independent ethics commission related articlesjanuary dia colorado constitution article xxix dec sam mamet colorado ethics watch colorado common cause rep jared polis democrat boulder based iec peg perl ethics watch s denver mayor michael hancock s xcel energy stevie wonder baseball stadium district coors field colorado rockies denver s code the aurora city council the denver city council denver s colorado springs ethics commission s this august jason dunn brownstein hyatt farber schreck ioannides not november angela council would amendment jan amendment denver aurora colorado colorado springs in i ethics i january hancock in amendment municipal colorado municipal league for ethics watch common cause amendment city aurora city i lawson rules local state home-rule opt-out statement set allowed codes long sentence employees meals attorney approved donors charters attorneys covered groups county worth accept enforcement agreed adopted sets powers government voter-passed board opt free hasn week put matter year debate standards bans secretary court started request general home black apply
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