Abigail Bliss
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The Colorado Independent Ethics Commission advanced complaints filed against seventeen Democratic state legislators that allege they broke the state’s law prohibiting elected officials from receiving gifts.
Colorado Common Cause, a pro-democracy organization, filed complaints against members of the Colorado Opportunity Caucus alleging they accepted payment for luxury resort expenses at an October gathering with lobbyists in Vail. The gathering was first reported by The Colorado Sun. The commission Tuesday unanimously determined all 17 of the complaints are “not frivolous,” meaning they will move forward to the commission’s investigation process and public hearings.
The complaints allege the involved legislators are members of the Colorado Opportunity Caucus, a nonprofit that Common Cause said was “created, staffed, and funded by a pro-business dark money group, One Main Street.” Caucus leaders allegedly asked One Main Street to pay a $25,000 bill for legislators’ hotel expenses while at the Vail retreat.
Colorado voters in 2006 approved a gift ban for elected officials.
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“No one is above the law or the state constitution. The trust the public places in our leaders when we elect them to office is sacred and not to be taken lightly,” Aly Belknap, Colorado Common Cause’s executive director, said in a statement. “Common Cause commends the Independent Ethics Commission for taking appropriate action, and we reaffirm our shared mission to defend the public interest.”
Common Cause filed complaints against Senator Lindsey Daugherty of Arvada, who chairs the Opportunity Caucus, Representative Shannon Bird of Westminster, Rep. Tisha Mauro of Pueblo, Rep. Michael Carter of Aurora, Rep. Jacque Phillips of Thornton, Rep. Rebekah Stewart of Lakewood, Rep. Meghan Lukens of Steamboat Springs, Rep. Karen McCormick of Longmont, Rep. Cecelia Espenoza of Denver, Rep. Matthew Martinez of Monte Vista, Rep. Katie Stewart of Durango, Rep. Sean Camacho of Denver, Rep William Lindstedt of Broomfield, Sen. Marc Snyder of Manitou Springs, Sen. Dafna Michaelson Jenet of Commerce City, Sen. Kyle Mullica of Thornton, and Sen. Judy Amabile of Boulder. Each legislator will be able to respond to the complaints with a private attorney at the public hearings.
“This is a grotesque, intentionally orchestrated miscarriage of justice,” Daugherty said in a statement. “The dark money operatives behind this mudslinging should do some serious soul-searching and Coloradans should let them know that joining Donald Trump in attacking Democrats, trampling on justice, rejecting due process, and abandoning integrity to score cheap political points is not the kind of behavior that our state wants, deserves or will accept.”
A joint statement from the Opportunity Caucus called the accusations in the complaint inaccurate and incendiary. The statement said Common Cause did not file the complaints because of ethics but rather as “a publicity and fundraising campaign to silence Democratic incumbents ahead of their 2026 elections.”
Representative Bird Didn’t Attend Event
Bird, who is running for Congress in Colorado’s 8th Congressional District and was the founding chair of the Opportunity Caucus, filed a motion to dismiss the complaint against her as she did not attend the retreat and was no longer chair during planning of the retreat. Eve Zhurbinskiy, Bird’s campaign manager, said the complaint “is as false as it is absurd.”
“Shannon Bird was not at the event in question, she was not Chair of the Caucus, and she, quite literally, had nothing to do with it,” Zhurbinskiy said in a statement.
Shad Murib, chair of the Colorado Democratic Party, condemned the complaints after the hearing and said lawmakers are taking “good-faith steps to address the situation.” He said legislators made “a sizable contribution to the Food Bank of the Rockies, regardless of whether they believe a violation occurred.”
“Colorado Democrats hold ourselves to the highest ethical standards, and that includes allowing the Independent Ethics Commission to do its work without political games,” Murib said in a statement.
Lindsey Toomer is a reporter for Colorado Newsline, part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Follow Colorado Newsline here.
