Katy bar the door! The Denver Post reports this morning that term-limited legislators may quit now rather than become subject to the new “Ethics in Government” law when it takes effect…
Last week, voters approved Amendment 41, which – in addition to banning gifts – requires a two-year cooling-off period for departing legislators.
Half of the 16 lawmakers who are being forced out by term limits or did not run for re-election said they may resign to avoid curtailing their career options.
Republican Rep. Keith King of Colorado Springs said he is starting a new charter school and trying to ascertain how the measure will affect that work.
“If it prevents me from doing anything I want to do, I’ll definitely resign,” he said…
John Zakhem, a Republican election lawyer, said the amendment “prohibits any legislator from working for state government if their duties require them to interact with the legislative branch.”
And that has politicians such as Democratic Rep. Val Vigil of Thornton concerned. Vigil said he applied to head up the Department of Local Affairs. He said he hadn’t considered resigning early until he heard the amendment might cost him the job…
Republican Rep. Mark Larson of Cortez, who has expressed interest in working for Ritter, said he didn’t think the measure would stop legislators from serving in the administration. But, if it did, he would not resign early.
“Shame on them for even thinking about that,” Larson said. “(Voters) didn’t expect a legal loophole. My God, no wonder people think about legislators the way they do.”
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It’s ironic that some of the most strident supporters of Amendment 41 (Larson & Tupa) want to be the first to violate it.
Mark Larson clearly said he would not resign in The Post story. Read the last paragraph a little more thouroughly.
Saw it. It’s ironic because he campaigned for 41 but didn’t realize it would apply to him when he sent his resume to Ritter for a cabinet job.
It’s not in law yet? It would just be hypocritcal.
Get it straight!
To what specifically are you referring?
Cabinet officers shouldn’t lobby anyway. That’s the job of the Governor’s liaison, who should represent all of the government agencies.
In an earlier Colorado Pols post and in a Rocky article. And the prohibition is on “representing” not “lobbying”
And the prohibition is on “representing” not “lobbying”
They idea of this provision was to stop an ex-gov. from being able to use their contacts for lobbying purposes. So why do you draw a distinction in this?
A lobbyist is a person who has that as their living and they often represent more than one client. They must register at the Sec. of State’s office and make periodic reports there.
It is easy to represent someone at the Capitol but not be a lobbyist. It is common to have people who regularly show up at the Capitol to try to sway legislation that affects them personally or professionally and they are usually representing some group they belong to or company they work for. But they are not technically lobbyists.
So Amend. 41 afects a lot more people than just lobbyists. It affects and organization or company who tesitfies on bills in committee. They will not be able to have as their spokesperson anyone who has been a legislator in the past two years.