Former Colorado governor and current candidate for the US Senate, John Hickenlooper has been officially charged with ethics charges. He had been subpoenaed to testify last week but he never showed up. That being the case the state ethics board voted on the charges without his testimony and he was found guilty 4 to 1. He will now have to wait to find out what his punishment will be besides many in the state losing faith in him.
The board voted 5 to 0 that he violated ethics rules by accepting a free flight and a number of free expensive meals paid for by MDC Holdings in March 2018. The board has not hinted at what his punishment might be but because he is a Democrat I’d be willing to bet it will be two fingers slapping his wrist and a fine of $1.52.
National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) spokesperson Joanna Rodriguez said:
“Hickenlooper has spent the last week refusing to testify, ignoring subpoenas, and being found in contempt because he didn’t want to answer for his serious disregard for Colorado’s ethics laws.”
“Now he has to defend taxpayers footing the bill for his $525-an-hour lawyer out of a post-9/11 economic recovery fund.”
The commission will meet on June 12 to decide what penalties the former governor will face for the two ethics violations. This will also include his contempt violation for failing to show up after he was subpoenaed regarding his ethics violations.
Melissa Miller, Hickenlooper’s campaign spokesperson, said that special interests had hijacked the ethics process to attack the former Colorado governor.
“We fully expect the special interests who’ve exploited this process to continue to mislead Coloradans with negative attacks because they know John Hickenlooper will be an independent voice in the U.S. Senate,” Miller said.
Hickenlooper faces a primary election against Andrew Romanoff on June 30 for the U.S. Senate Democrat primary. Hickenlooper hopes to unseat Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO).
Joe Jackson, a spokesman for the Colorado GOP, said in a statement on Friday, “The IEC made clear today that no one is above the law, not even a former governor. Coloradans should think twice before voting for a man found guilty of several ethics abuses.”