Legislative leaders declined Wednesday to convene an ethics panel to investigate charges of deceptive lobbying by the state’s largest teachers union.
The executive council concluded that Rep. Kent Lambert’s complaint did not merit a full review and dropped it without comment.
Lambert, R-Colorado Springs, contended that Colorado Education Association lobbyist Lynne Mason was misleading people about Gov. Bill Ritter’s proposal to freeze property- tax rates for schools.
“We’re pleased,” said CEA spokeswoman Deborah Fallin. “It’s a baseless, frivolous complaint based totally on partisan politics. There was no reason for them to have an ethics panel.”
Still, drama surrounded the proceedings, with the two Republicans walking out of the executive council’s meeting, leaving four Democrats behind to vote.
House Minority Leader Mike May, R-Parker, said he was leaving because participating would prevent him from speaking out about Lambert’s complaint.
Legislative rules prohibit lawmakers on the council from discussing ethics complaints.
On Tuesday, House Speaker Andrew Romanoff and Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald declined to comment on Lambert’s allegations. May said he thought Lambert’s complaint had merit.
Lambert said Mason and the CEA were deceptive on two counts.
First, Mason sent an e-mail saying that the tax-rate freeze proposal would take pressure off potential future cuts in education. Lambert cited a constitutional amendment that mandates increased spending on public schools.
Second, the CEA has a Web page that says the freeze proposal is not a tax increase. Lambert believes it is an increase because government will collect more money, even if tax rates are unchanged.
Fallin said Lambert is escalating a difference of opinion into a political cause.
“We don’t think it’s a tax increase,” Fallin said. “Legislative Legal Services and the governor’s attorney don’t think so either.”
By leaving the meeting, Democrats said May and Senate Minority Leader Andy McElhany, R-Colorado Springs, were ignoring rules that have been in place since 1988.
Romanoff, D-Denver, said May was making the issue “more partisan” by walking out.
And Fitz-Gerald, D-Jefferson County, chided May for “abdicating his responsibility” as a legislative leader.
Staff writer Mark P. Couch can be reached at 303-954-1794 or mcouch@denverpost.com.
