Former Rep. Michael Garcia threw away a promising political career over what he called “consensual” but “inappropriate” conduct with a lobbyist.
The woman’s version is that the encounter beside a Lancer Lounge pool table was not consensual. Still, House and Senate rules aren’t specific about romantic relationships between the people who make laws and the people trying to influence their votes.
They’re not forbidden, though many Capitol insiders say avoiding even the “appearance of impropriety” is plain common sense.
That’s not to say lawmakers and lobbyists never get involved. Ethics rules allow room for relationships, with proper disclosure.
Sen. Ron Tupa, for one, is married to a lobbyist. The Boulder Democrat and Kara Miller Tupa, a contract lobbyist for a private firm and the state Department of Labor and Employment, drop off their kids on their way to the Capitol in the morning. Then, they go separate ways.
When a bill that Miller Tupa is pushing hits the Senate floor, her husband abstains from voting.
“I have to do everything and anything I can to avoid even the appearance of impropriety,” said Tupa, who sent a letter to his colleagues when his wife was promoted from information-providing legislative liaison to vote-swaying lobbyist last year.
Tupa’s marriage is the most obvious example, but lawmakers and lobbyists say under-the-radar relationships that begin over drinks at Capitol Hill nightclubs aren’t uncommon.
“You could say they could stay at home and read bills every night, but that would get boring,” said Rep. Jack Pommer, D-Boulder. “Rules that say you can’t have relationships with the people you’re with every day are hard to enforce. It’s hard to enforce at a big company, and it’s hard to enforce here.”
Among the most high-profile relationships over the years involved former House Speaker Doug Dean and lobbyist Gloria Sanak in 2001.
Dean revealed the relationship publicly in January 2001 and abstained from voting on any prescription-drug bills because Sanak lobbied for Texas-based TAP Pharmaceuticals. The relationship gathered more attention in May 2001 when Sanak sought a restraining order against Dean, accusing the Colorado Springs Republican of using a screwdriver to pry open a window at her home.
Last year, Rep. Buffie McFadyen, D-Pueblo, dated Dean, now director of the Colorado Public Utilities Commission.
Rep. Paul Weissmann, D-Louisville, also met his wife at the Capitol. She left her job in legislative legal services in part so she could marry him, he said.
“There are appropriate ways within the rules and, frankly, common practice,” he said.
Interpretations
Rules for the House and Senate say lawmakers must disclose any “personal or private interest” in a pending bill and abstain from voting. They do not bar relationships between lobbyists and lawmakers, although some Capitol offices — legislative legal services, for example — prohibit workers from dating lawmakers.
The result is that legislators interpret the rules differently.
“I don’t know if there is any one answer anymore about the relationship between legislators and lobbyists,” said McFadyen, who says a 2006 voter-approved ethics law stifled even friendly relationships. “Obviously, we have general concepts of what’s appropriate.”
After Garcia’s Feb. 1 resignation — amid allegations he exposed himself and made lewd comments to a lobbyist — there has been widespread skepticism in the Capitol over his assertion that his conduct was “consensual” but “inappropriate.”
“This alleged conduct would have violated any rule we could have written,” said Rob Witwer, R-Golden.
The lobbyist, who talked to The Denver Post on condition of anonymity, said Garcia exposed himself Jan. 7 at the Lancer Lounge in Denver. A group of lobbyists went out drinking after a fundraiser for Garcia, who had planned to run for the state Senate this November.
Garcia, an Aurora Democrat, has referred calls to his attorney, who declined to comment Friday.
Several lawmakers said there is no need to rewrite Senate and House rules to explicitly bar them from dating lobbyists.
“It’s certainly in the spirit of the rule,” said Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Yuma. “People are expected to know how to behave.”
He said he refuses to go out to dinner alone with a female lobbyist, just so no one gets the wrong impression.
Several lobbyists interviewed last week did not want their names in the newspaper because they worry about damaging relationships with lawmakers. But those who have worked in the Capitol since the 1980s say the professional candor has improved greatly since then.
“It was much more of a good-old-boys network,” said one longtime lobbyist. “Now, if you said, ‘You’re making me uncomfortable,’ they would back off.”
Newer lobbyists, though, still see life under the dome as “pretty drama-ridden” because lawmakers and lobbyists “think they can get away with more than other people can.”
Jennifer Brown: 303-954-1593 or jenbrown@denverpost.com
