Anybody Know How to Conduct an Ethics Panel?

“The rules are stupid,” said Assistant Minority Leader Mike May, R-Parker. “I don’t think we ever knew that before.”

That’s because before the events of the past two weeks – in which both a senator and House member have been accused of inappropriate behavior – only one other ethics complaint is believed to have been filed. On Thursday, a newly formed Senate Ethics Committee met for the first time to discuss how to proceed with a complaint filed against Sen. Deanna Hanna, D-Lakewood.

Senate Majority Leader Ken Gordon, D-Denver, filed the complaint after she demanded $1,400 in “reparations” from the Colorado Association of Realtors’ after it endorsed her opponent in the 2004 election. Under the Senate ethics rule, leaders must determine if the complaint has merit in order to proceed.

Five of Stengel’s constituents on Tuesday filed an ethics complaint against him, alleging “misuse of taxpayer dollars and possible criminal violations.” They cited stories in the Rocky Mountain News, including the revelation that Stengel billed taxpayers while he was on vacation in Hawaii. House Majority Leader Alice Madden, D-Boulder, May and Speaker Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver, unanimously decided the complaint had to move forward. Romanoff declined to comment until the committee has completed its work.

And Madden made her distaste for the task clear. “I’m sick of all this,” she said. “I think we should spend our 120 days on policy, not on politics.”

Appointed to the House Ethics Committee were Democrats Betty Boyd, of Lakewood, Terrance Carroll, of Denver and Paul Weissmann, of Louisville; and Republicans Diane Hoppe, of Sterling and Lynn Hefley, of Colorado Springs.

Under legislative rules, the subject of a complaint has 10 days to respond to the complaint. For Hanna, that is Monday. During the Senate Ethics Committee meeting Thursday, Sen. Steve Johnson, R-Fort Collins, wanted to know what rules Hanna might have violated.

Committee chairwoman Sen. Jennifer Veiga, D-Denver, responded: “I think we’re going to find that the standards are not as clear as we would all like.” Veiga said by the end of today the staff will request copies of all letters, e-mails and such in connection with Hanna’s transactions with Realtors.