Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper violated the state’s constitutional gift ban by accepting private flights aboard company jets owned by his friends and during an overseas trip, an ethics panel decided Friday.
The Colorado Independent Ethics Commission decided his flight aboard a plane owned by MDC Holdings, a Colorado-based homebuilder led by top political donor Larry Mizel, and a pair of private dinners related to the USS Colorado celebration in Connecticut amounted to a violation.
“If we allow this kind of special privately financed treatment for elected officials, it just accentuates the cynicism in the public that led to Amendment 41,” said Bill Leone, a commission member and a former U.S. attorney.
The commission voted unanimously to reject a second element of the complaint about a private flight Hickenlooper took from New Jersey to Colorado because it qualified as a gift from a friend. He rode on a plane owned by a company connected to Ken Tuchman, a billionaire technology entrepreneur.
One of the commissioners said Hickenlooper’s testimony helped lead them to acquit him on that count.
On a third charge, related to a flight from Texas home to Colorado aboard Kimbal Musk’s private plane, the commission decided 4-1 that it didn’t amount to a violation because it was a gift from a personal friend. Hickenlooper traveled to Texas to officiate Musk’s wedding.
Musk is the brother of billionaire Elon Musk of Tesla and SpaceX.
In an unanimous vote, the commission found Hickenlooper in violation on a complaint that he accepted free transportation – including a ride in a Maserati limousine – and other benefits on a visit to the high-end Bilderberg meetings in Italy. Hickenlooper said he paid $1,500 to the hotel for the conference and believed it was all-inclusive for the conference. But the conference was paid for by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.
The commission quickly and unanimously dismissed two complaints related to flights that Hickenlooper took aboard his chief of staff’s plane. One flight went to Jackson, Wyoming, to attend an American Enterprise Institute symposium and the second to Colorado.
The verdicts came after a two-day hearing on a complaint filed by a conservative organization and testimony from Hickenlooper, who snubbed a subpoena to testify the first day and the commission held him in contempt.
This is a developing story that will be updated. Check the Colorado Sun’s website for updates.
