Hick broke ethics laws
After his testimony, committee says he broke rules in 2 of 6 allegations
Former Gov. John Hickenlooper violated state ethics laws when he allowed large corporations to cover the cost of a private jet trip to Connecticut, a Maserati limousine ride, and several ritzy dinners in 2018, the Colorado Independent Ethics Commission ruled Friday.
The commission considered six allegations against Hickenlooper. In four instances, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate was found to have not violated Amendment 41, the state’s ban on gifts to public officials.
Hickenlooper testified for several hours Friday morning after the commission found him to be in contempt Thursday for refusing to comply with a subpoena. His attorney had argued that the subpoena was a violation of his due process rights, in part because the video conferencing program is glitchy, but Friday’s testimony occurred without technical difficulty.
The commission agreed unanimously that Hickenlooper violated the gift ban in June 2018 when he attended secretive Bilderberg meetings in Italy. He paid a flat fee of $1,500 that he said he believed covered the cost of a hotel stay, limousine transportation, meals and more. The event’s sponsor, Fiat-Chrysler, has said the $1,500 fee did not include the limousine rides.
“At that time, I felt I was paying the full cost and complying in every way with Amendment 41,” Hickenlooper testified before the vote Friday.
The commission voted 4-1 to find Hickenlooper violated
Amendment 41 when he accepted a flight and exclusive high-end dinners from MDC Holdings in March 2018.
“I’m concerned that if we allow this kind of special, privately financed treatment for elected officials, it just accentuates the cynicism that led to Amendment 41,” Commissioner Bill Leone said before that vote.
The commission will meet June 12 to consider what penalties to place on Hickenlooper for the two ethics violations, as well as his contempt citation.
Four of the six allegations were discarded due to exceptions to the ban for gifts from friends and gifts on special occasions. The commission voted 5-0 that Hickenlooper’s acceptance of a flight from billionaire friend Ken Tuchman was not a violation. It also unanimously determined flights on his chief of staff’s private jet on two occasions were not violations.
“We fully expect the special interests who’ve exploited this process to continue to mislead Coloradans with negative attacks because they know John Hickenlooper will be an independent voice in the U.S. Senate,” said Melissa Miller, a Hickenlooper campaign spokeswoman, in a statement.
Suzanne Staiert, director of the Public Trust Institute, a Republican group that filed the ethics complaint against Hickenlooper in late 2018, questioned the Democratic candidate during the hearing. In the MDC Holdings case, Staiert pointed out that the company owns homebuilder Richmond American Homes, and the homebuilding industry is often impacted by state legislation.
In March 2018, Hickenlooper flew to Connecticut on an MDC Holdings jet. Hickenlooper said company owner Larry Mizel is a friend and he accepted the flight in part because it saved him time when he was busy governing the state.
“Did you ever have any concerns that people might think that actions you took in the past were sort of a quid pro quo for getting favors in the future?” Staiert asked Hickenlooper.
“There would never be a question of quid pro quo,”
Hickenlooper said, “and (Mizel) never talked to me about the housing industry.”
On at least one occasion Friday, Hickenlooper seemed unsure of what he had previously told the commission. When asked if he had reimbursed restaurateur Kimbal Musk for a flight on a private jet after Musk’s April 2018 wedding, which Hickenlooper officiated, the former governor said he was unsure. Both Musk and Hickenlooper told an ethics investigator last year that Hickenlooper wrote a $1,000 check that was never cashed.
Commissioners later voted 4-1 in finding there was no violation by Hickenlooper in the Musk matter. Hickenlooper’s attorney had argued the plane trip was compensation for the many hours Hickenlooper had spent preparing for the wedding, traveling to it and officiating it.
This week’s ethics saga played out on as Hickenlooper prepares to take on Andrew Romanoff in the June 30 U.S. Senate Democratic primary. Ballots will be mailed Monday, and the winner will take on Sen. Cory Gardner, a Yuma Republican, in early November.
“The IEC made clear today that no one is above the law, not even a former governor,” said Colorado Republican Party spokesman Joe Jackson. “Coloradans should think twice before voting for a man found guilty of several ethics abuses.”