A draft report written by an investigator charged with reviewing an ethics claim against Gov. John Hickenlooper raised issues regarding the use of state staffers at a pricey policy event he hosted in Aspen last year.
The report, obtained by The Denver Post, specifically questions why those staffers weren’t present at a high-profile private dinner with oil and gas executives during the Democratic Governors Association (DGA) meeting.
The question contrasts the governor’s explanation that the association absorbed thousands of dollars in costs and fees to allow key staff members to help the governor at the conference.
“The governor’s office stipulated that ‘one or more staff accompanied the governor at all times at the conference,’ ” the report by Bill McBean of Acclaim Investigations says. “Our investigation indicates that statement probably isn’t true.”
However, the five-member Colorado Independent Ethics Commission isn’t using the report in its deliberations on whether to proceed with the complaint and is instead using transcripts and audios of interviews with the governor, five staffers, one lobbyist billed as a “political insider,” and two members of Hickenlooper’s campaign team.
Commissioner Bill Leone declined to talk about why the commission wasn’t using the report — or hasn’t read it.
“The reason for us to use the transcripts is it’s the best evidence of what was said by the witnesses,” he said.
Sources familiar with the investigation told The Post that the Colorado assistant attorney general assigned to the commission had read the report, found it had problems and recommended it not be used.
Transcripts show that McBean claimed the conference was “an event where face time is traded for cash contributions,” and challenged staffers who said otherwise.
At one point, McBean was forced to apologize for telling Alan Salazar, the governor’s policy director and chief strategist, “You guys are a slippery lot.” Salazar reminded McBean he was supposed to be an independent investigator for the ethics commission.
“I’m not going to comment on the investigator’s comments and the investigator’s professionalism,” Leone said. “We are interested in the facts, and that’s why we’re looking at the transcripts.”
The draft report notes that the ethics commission told McBean to limit the scope of his investigation to 40 hours and not travel to Aspen. McBean wasn’t granted subpoena power, but the governor and his staff willingly cooperated with the investigator.
The Denver Post obtained the draft reports and the transcripts after filing an open-records request following comments made at last week’s ethics commission meeting. The commission next Monday will deliberate the governor’s motion to dismiss the complaint.
The conservative group Compass Colorado alleges Hickenlooper violated the gift-ban provision of the state’s ethics law by allowing the DGA to pick up costs for the governor and staffers at the conference. The governor’s office contends the complaint is politically motivated, and the association was allowed to pick up the costs because of exemptions allowed under Amendment 41, the 2006 ethics measure voters approved in 2006.
VIEW: The draft report by the investigator hired by The Colorado Independent Ethics Commission
“The investigator’s interviews are only one piece of the work being done by the Independent Ethics Commission,” Hickenlooper spokesman Eric Brown said Monday.
“This case won’t be decided solely on these transcripts. The complete picture of what happened in Aspen last summer shows the governor did nothing inappropriate, nor did he or any staff in the governor’s office violate any law or do anything unethical.”
The governor has a powerful ally: Republican Attorney General John Suthers, who hosted the Republican Attorneys General Association policy conference in Colorado in 2012.
“Yeah, OK, there is all kinds of political schmoozing going on,” Suthers said, but he argued that the state greatly benefits from the policy meetings and the relationship-building.
Hickenlooper said he wished they had taped the policy meetings “just to show the world they are inherently innocuous.”
McBean also asked the governor if the private dinner arranged by the DGA could be seen as “quid pro quo” for the organization paying for his expenses. Among those invited to the dinner were BP’s chief executive, John Minge, executives from Xcel Energy, Noble Energy, energy lobbyists and three other governors.
Hickenlooper attended the late-night dinner without staff.
The interview with Salazar was more contentious, including McBean’s assertion that the staffers were “a slippery lot.”
Salazar demanded to know what McBean meant. “That means I can’t get a straight answer,” McBean said.
“I’ve given you a straight answer,” Salazar said. “It may not be the answer you want. … I want to know what the right answer is.”
Salazar demanded an apology or he would abort the interview. McBean apologized.
The report shows that the DGA paid for the governor’s room for $1,779, and for Salazar and chief of staff Roxane White, at $1,066 each. The DGA also covered meals and a $10,000 attendance fee, given that Hickenlooper hosted the event, the report said.
Lynn Bartels: 303-954-5327, lbartels@denverpost.com or twitter.com/lynn_bartels
Ethics report
An investigative firm hired by the Colorado Independent Ethics Commission to review a complaint filed against Gov. John Hickenlooper drafted a report, which the commission is not using, preferring to instead use the transcripts of interviews. According to the report and transcripts:
• The Democratic Governors Association raised $840,000 at the three-day policy event, but it appears none of it will benefit Hickenlooper. The group didn’t contribute in 2010 and isn’t likely to in 2014, unless Hickenlooper is in trouble. Private investigator Bill McBean said he doubted the governor’s re-election bid was in jeopardy.
• McBean told Ben Davis of Onsight Public Affairs, the firm handling the governor’s re-election bid, that he viewed the DGA conference as an event where “face time is traded off for cash contributions.” Replied Davis: “Sounds very Hollywood.”
• Before events, the governor’s legal counsel advises the governor and his staffers about ethics restrictions imposed by Amendment 41. The governor’s office believes it followed the “letter and spirit of the law” in regard to the DGA conference.
