An ethics panel created in the aftermath of Amendment 41 has made three rulings in recent weeks, including permitting Gov. Bill Ritter and his top staff to travel to Israel on someone else’s dime.
The Independent Ethics Commission, however, rejected a request from a Colorado Department of Education employee who wanted expenses covered for a trip to Turkey. That’s a change from last year when the commission approved a similar trip.
Voters in 2006 approved Amendment 41, which, in part, outlawed government employees’ receiving of gifts of $50 or more. Exceptions included fact-finding trips where the expenses were paid for by nonprofit organizations that received less than 5 percent of their money from for-profit sources.
Ritter told the commission the Allied Jewish Federation would pick up costs for him, first lady Jeannie Ritter and top staffers for the July 12-18 economic trade mission to Israel.
The federation submitted paperwork saying it received less than 5 percent of its funding from for-profit groups.
“(T)his is the sort of travel that was contemplated by the drafters” of Amendment 41, the commission wrote in its June 17 ruling.
The Department of Education employee wanted to travel to Turkey as part of an educational program and have a portion of the expenses paid by the Multicultural Mosaic Foundation.
The commission ruled Thursday that the foundation couldn’t help pay for the trip because it gets more than 5 percent of its money from for-profit sources.
The commission last year allowed state Rep. Cherylin Peniston, D-Westminster, to take the same trip, saying the “IEC agrees that the state would benefit from the requester’s participation.”
A watchdog group, Colorado Ethics Watch, cried foul, noting the mosaics group hadn’t provided documentation of its funding. Ethics Watch sued.
A judge in December did not rule on the merits of the ethics commission’s findings but voided the opinion because of a violation to the open-meetings law.
Ethics Watch heralded Thursday’s decision.
“The IEC deserves praise for reconsidering its position on gifts of travel,” Luis Toro, director of Ethics Watch, said in a statement.
The commission also examined a request from a full-time faculty member who taught accounting at Red Rocks Community College and retired in May. He was offered a contract from the continuing-education department effective July 1 to resolve some accounting differences and to set up an accounting system for billing and fees.
The commission ruled June 17 that he could accept the contract.
The commission noted that restrictions on subsequent employment outlined in Amendment 41 apply only to lawmakers and statewide elected officials.
Amendment 41 also restricts employees from leaving their jobs, then turning around and getting hired to handle matters they worked on. The commission ruled that although the proposed contract covers the professor’s area of expertise, it does not cover matters he worked on at Red Rocks.
Lynn Bartels: 303-954-5327 or lbartels@denverpost.com
