Colorado Ethics Watch Alleges Misconduct by Democratic Legislators at Vail Retreat

By: Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics

Colorado Common Cause filed complaints Wednesday with the state ethics commission against 12 Democratic state lawmakers, alleging they accepted funding from the “dark money” group One Main Street Colorado for a three-day retreat at a luxury hotel in Vail last October.

The complaints said the lawmakers accepted illegal gifts from One Main Street that violate Amendment 41, the state’s ethics amendment, also known as Article 29 of the state Constitution.

Under that amendment, lawmakers are not allowed to accept gifts exceeding $75 per person per year. But the cost of the rooms at the Sonnenalp Vail came in at about $25,000 for the lawmakers. The complaint claimed the hotel charges $316 to $500 per night.

Common Cause also said the lawmakers accepted food, drink and travel expenses paid for by One Main Street in addition to the hotel rooms.

In addition, “public records show One Main Street Colorado has been financed by the very same corporate groups whose lobbyists attended the retreat, including Xcel Energy, Occidental Petroleum and the Colorado Association of Realtors.”

The complaints are against the members of the Colorado Opportunity Caucus, which was formed last January and includes Chair Sen. Lindsey Daugherty of Arvada; Sens. Dylan Roberts of Frisco, Marc Snyder of Colorado Springs, Judy Amabile of Boulder and Kyle Mullica of Thornton; and Reps. Cecelia Espenoza and Sean Camacho, both of Denver; Karen McCormick of Longmont, Meghan Lukens of Steamboat Springs, Rebekah Stewart of Lakewood, Jacque Phillips of Thornton, William Lindstedt of Broomfield, Michael Carter of Aurora and Lesley Smith of Boulder.

The caucus’s co-founder, Rep. Shannon Bird of Westminster, did not participate in the group’s retreat, according to Daugherty.

The Colorado Common Cause complaint said that last summer, One Main Street organized a closed-door “Summit” for business advocates to “educate” Opportunity Caucus members on issues important to business interests.

Legislators couldn’t afford the $25,000 cost of their rooms at the hotel, the complaint said, “so they asked One Main Street to pay that bill. One Main Street paid for legislators’ rooms as requested and also appears to have funded other expenses of the legislators’ Summit, including staff effort and food and drink. In short, OMSC wielded undisclosed influence over a large number of Colorado legislators by paying significant costs of the event, including their individual travel expenses.”

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