State Sen. Abel Tapia should announce his financial interests in the State Fair when he sponsors and votes for fair-related legislation, though no ethics rule says he must, according to a legal opinion made public this afternoon at the statehouse.
Tapia faces an ethics-board inquiry over whether he should have directed money to the fair through legislation at the same time his engineering firm benefited from State Fair contracts totaling $440,000.
The General Assembly’s lawyers found that the Pueblo Democrat broke no laws in the opinion delivered to Tapia on April 7.
They apparently focused on general state budget bills and Tapia’s 2006 bailout bill that gave the fair $3.2 million a year to repay its debts and fund operational costs.
Other bills that Tapia sponsored and voted on are not mentioned, including a $1.1 million appropriation for a fair project that his company may have overseen at time the legislation passed.
The lawmaker asked for the opinion after he sponsored the fair funding bills and his company secured a series of contracts. He provided it to the legislative ethics board this afternoon, although board members will arrive at their own advisory opinion next week.
The legislative lawyers also gave Tapia advice for the future, stating that:
Jessica Fender: 303-954-1244 or jfender@denverpost.com
