Denver, CO – Colorado’s Former Governor, John Hickenlooper, jet-setted around the world on private planes while he was still in office. The cynical side of you is probably saying right now, “typical politicians, they all do that, and they’re all bought and paid for.” That’s actually not true, and Colorado voters, in particular, voted for a Constitutional Amendment to stop this in 2006.
This was Amendment 41, and it’s very specific about elected officials NOT receiving gifts in excess of $53 dollars in value. Yes, we said $53, no zeros added. As you may have guessed, if Hickenlooper accepted flights on a private plane, they would likely be worth more than $53.
So, a complaint was filed with the Colorado Independent Ethics Commission (we’ve written about them before and how much of a debacle that is). The complaint was eventually dismissed, but if you look at the political make-up of the Commission, Democrats AREN’T going to be held accountable anytime soon.
To make you mad, we’ll quote The Denver Post on some of the trips Hickenlooper took while Governor of Colorado:
The complaint alleged Hickenlooper improperly traveled on private jets to Italy for Bilderberg meetings and to Texas, where he officiated the wedding of Kimbal Musk, brother of entrepreneur Elon Musk, along with several other trips. Due to statutes of limitations, the ethics commission could only investigate Hickenlooper’s actions in 2018, the last year of his governorship…Ethics investigators interviewed a secretary of the secretive Bilderberg meetings, but withheld her name from their report. The secretary confirmed Hickenlooper attended the 2018 meeting. Hickenlooper has also said he was there but paid for the trip out of his own pocket.
Justin Wingerter, The Denver Post, November 7, 2019
Because Hickenlooper was an elected official at the time, the state of Colorado is obligated to defend him. Yeah, this seems messed-up, but we’re not going to deal with that in this article. Colorado has paid to defend Republicans as well, FYI.
Usually, the defense of these elected officials falls to the Attorney General. Now, the Attorney General can hire outside counsel because there are often conflicts of interest in these cases. So it makes sense…to an extent that taxpayers aren’t getting fleeced.
Well, to make matters worse, then “Republican” Attorney General Cynthia Coffman or her staff hired the most expensive Democrat hired gun in the business, Mark Grueskin. We put “Republican” in quotes because Cynthia didn’t get the memo on what that actually meant. Her horrible legacy as Attorney General still lives on…But we digress…
You should know because outside of insider political circles, people don’t know about Mark Grueskin. Ninety-nine percent of the time, Grueskin represents Democrats, and he wins a lot. For integrity’s sake, we’ll point out that he successfully represented conservative State Representative Kim Ransom (we believe on her own dime, not the state’s), when she had her fraudulent politically motivated complaint dismissed by this same Commission.
Well, for Hickenlooper, Grueskin is billing the State of Colorado (that’s our tax dollars folks) at $525 an hour, and taxpayers paid him over $43,000 to date. Taxpayers are also paying $150 an hour for his paralegal. So, taxpayers are getting fleeced. Our story with some major snarkiness would normally end here, but there’s more!
We’ll again just quote The Denver Post here:
According to the transparency database, money paid by the state to Grueskin comes from the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003, a bundle of federal dollars allocated as part of a President George W. Bush-era plan to jump-start the post-9/11 economy.
Justin Wingerter, The Denver Post, November 20, 2019
Yeah, we’re pretty sure Hickenlooper’s legal fees are not in the scope of what this money was intended to cover. In fact, a former Republican Governor by the name of Bill Owens did expand the scope of what the funds could be used to pay. However, we can still argue that Hickenlooper’s legal fees do not fall within the scope. Again we quote The Denver Post:
Then-Gov. Bill Owens signed an executive order in 2003 accepting the federal money and clarifying it should be used “to provide essential government services or to cover the costs of certain federal unfunded mandates.”…Sixteen years later, leftover taxpayer money appears to also be covering Hickenlooper’s legal costs. When asked about this, the governor’s office emailed a copy of the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003 but did not explain why its federal funds are being used in this way. Hickenlooper’s campaign said he did not decide where the money came from or whether to redact payments to Grueskin.
Justin Wingerter, The Denver Post, November 20, 2019
We don’t think we need to put on our tin-foil hats to see that this is pretty shady, and someone is hiding something. This should haunt Hickenlooper through his U.S. Senate race. That is if the MSM continues to cover it…and they won’t.
This is why we should never give the government our money. They waste it on corrupt politicians, amongst other things.
Please share!
Remember to check back with the Colorado Citizen Press. We’re always looking for good stories to write. Please use our “Citizen Tip Line” early and often. Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter (@COCitizenPress)!