DENVER—A former Colorado state senator has filed an ethics complaint against an attorney representing an ethics watchdog group, accusing her of misrepresenting facts in a legal case.
Former Senate Minority Leader Andy McElhany, a Republican from Colorado Springs, lodged the complaint against Chantell Taylor. McElhany says she falsely accused him of misusing private funds to run a political Web site even though a district attorney investigated and refused to file charges.
The complaint was sent Tuesday to the state Supreme Court, which regulates attorneys through a professional regulation council. The council can order attorneys to get ethics training or suspend an attorney’s license temporarily or permanently.
A similar complaint filed by Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman was rejected last month after the council ruled that Coffman’s complaint was ambiguous.
Taylor said her organization won’t stop investigating allegations of wrongdoing in political campaigns.
“Like Mr. Coffman’s complaint, we expect this complaint will be summarily dismissed. These scare tactics will not deter Ethics Watch from properly invoking the legal system to hold public officials accountable for questionable conduct that undermines the integrity of our government,” Taylor said.
McElhany said Taylor’s statements were defamatory and an attempt to influence a court proceeding in which she was involved.
“Although I certainly respect robust political debate, this in fact was not political debate. Rather, Ms. Chantell Taylor used her position as an attorney and expert in the law to create an aura of public condemnation and to (try to) obtain a criminal conviction against me,” McElhany said in his complaint.
Coffman’s complaint claimed Taylor misrepresented the findings after the ethics commission cleared him on a conflict-of-interest complaint in April. The commission ruled that there may have been a technical violation when his office granted a voting machine contract to a company that used a political consulting firm in common with Coffman, but no laws were violated.
In its decision, the commission said Taylor should “choose her words more carefully” when summarizing a court decision, but ruled there was no clear evidence of a rules violation.
