By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project
Update-a-palooza on legislative livestreams and campaign finance complaints
I wanted to update some stories I’ve been following before they get too stale (as you can see in today’s third post, I’ll be taking the rest of the week off).
First, and simplest, is an update to whether or not the state legislature will continue what was a pilot program to livestream legislative committee hearings (video and audio instead of just audio). The Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition story linked first below offers more details, but the upshot is that the legislature is a decided “maybe” on whether or not to continue it.
The livestreams, at least according to the article, are pretty popular but it seems the sticking point may be money. No matter the outcome, I would like to remind you that you can still attend committee hearings via Zoom if you’d like and this includes the ability to dial in and hear audio if you have an old school flip phone like myself.
The balance of the update, and the links, relate to the Democrats fighting with the progressives over the Vail retreat some Democrat legislators took which was paid for by a dark money group.
Links 2 through 4 below are in chronological order, and, in brief, detail how the ethics commission complaint against some of the so-called “moderate” Democrats cleared its first hurdle before the commission, how one of the Democrats associated with the caucus who got the free retreat had her complaint dropped (she wasn’t at the retreat and had resigned as the chair of the caucus before it happened), and how legislative Democrats voted so that you and I as taxpayers can fund their legal defense.
The first two are merely soap opera style entertainment; they’re the fun of watching people you don’t like fight.
That last one is irksome to me. If the progressives and Democrats want to fuss and struggle, fine. Don’t make me pay for it!
Should you like to give a quick thank you email to those that wanted you to foot the $250 an hour bill for their legal representation, the list is in the article (with one notable exception). Quoting:
“The Democrats who requested taxpayer-funded legal representation are: Sens. Lindsey Daugherty of Arvada, Marc Snyder of Manitou Springs, Judy Amabile of Boulder and Dafna Michaelson Jenet of Commerce City, and Reps. Sean Camacho of Denver, Tisha Mauro of Pueblo, William Lindstedt of Broomfield, Michael Carter of Aurora, Jacque Phillips of Thornton, Meghan Lukens of Steamboat Springs, Matthew Martinez of Monte Vista, Katie Stewart of Durango, Rebekah Stewart of Lakewood, Karen McCormick of Longmont, and Cecelia Espenoza of Denver. Democratic Sen. Kyle Mullica of Thornton, who also faces a complaint, did not request publicly funded representation. Mullica declined to comment Thursday on his decision.”
https://coloradosun.com/2025/11/18/colorado-opportunity-caucus-ethics-commission/
https://coloradosun.com/2025/11/20/ethics-complaint-shannon-bird-dropped/
READ THE FULL COMMENTARY AT THE COLORADO ACCOUNTABILITY PROJECT
Editor’s note: Opinions expressed in commentary pieces are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the management of the Rocky Mountain Voice, but even so we support the constitutional right of the author to express those opinions.
![FD863768-0ACF-495E-9D21-2EF784DFFA6B[1]](https://rockymountainvoice.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/FD863768-0ACF-495E-9D21-2EF784DFFA6B1-300x300.png)