State ethics commissioners are huddling in executive session this morning and could come to a decision on a complaint filed against now U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman as early as this afternoon.
The complaint alleges that as secretary of state, Coffman knowingly allowed a staffer to conduct a partisan side business, a problem for an office charged with staying politically neutral and overseeing fair elections.
The complaint also charges that Coffman re-certified electronic voting machines owned by a client of the political consulting firm that ran his congressional campaign.
Coffman’s lawyer, Doug Friednash, has said the complaint by Colorado Ethics Watch is part of a “two-year jihad” to discredit a man who was the state’s top Republican at the time.
Ethics Watch frequently targets Republican politicians, though Democrats occasionally appear in its crosshairs as well.
The group’s leader, Chantell Taylor, has said the complaint about partisanship is a red herring, meant to distract from the facts in the complaint.
The state’s Independent Ethics Commission, established under Amendment 41, is expected to come out of executive session around 1 p.m. today.
