Conflicts of interest get personal for state legislators

Face The State Staff Report

The world of Colorado politics is small and within its citizen legislature, conflicts of interest arise every year. It is largely up to individual lawmakers, however, to judge whether to recuse themselves from a vote.

Former state Rep. Rob Witwer, a Genesee Republican, says House and Senate rules on conflicts of interest leave lots of room for interpretation. For example, Senate Rule 17c states: “Any Senator having a personal or private interest in any question or bill pending, shall disclose such fact to the Senate and shall not vote thereon, and if the vote be by ayes and noes, such fact shall be entered in the journal.”

During his legislative tenure, Witwer was well known for frequently recusing himself from votes where he thought there could be a potential conflict of interest or even a perceived conflict of interest. “If there is ever a question, it’s always the best policy to recuse yourself even if the law doesn’t require it,” he said. “The legal standard is not the only standard. I believe elected officials should hold themselves to a higher standard than the legal standard, and the standard I’m talking about is appearance.”

Former Sen. Ron Tupa, a Boulder Democrat, served in the legislature while his wife worked as a Republican lobbyist. He was also known for excusing himself from any vote that could turn into a potential conflict of interest.

Others legislators are not as cautious. Sen. Joyce Foster, D-Denver, voted yes on the FASTER transportation bill despite the fact that her son, David Foster, is the registered lobbyist for the Colorado Contractors Association, a key supporter of the bill. Foster said she did not recuse herself from the FASTER vote because no conflict of interest existed.

“My son’s firm does not lobby me at all, so there is one of 4 million lobbyists that I don’t see,” she said, adding that during her time on the Denver City Council she worked on dozens of transportation issues and represented Denver during the T-REX highway expansion project.

David Foster said he doesn’t talk about client issues or bills with his mother. “The FASTER bill was a piece of legislation that I never discussed with her,” he said. “We’ve never had any conversations about FASTER. There are other members of the lobbying team that might have talked to her about this issue. In terms of supporting transportation related issues, she was supporting those issues before I was ever a lawyer.”

Last Spring, Foster’s primary opponent, former Rep. Alice Borodkin, confronted Foster about her son’s lobbying ties in a letter. At the time, both women were running to replace term-limited Sen. Ken Gordon, D-Denver. Borodkin, who was serving in the state House at the time, cited a handful of examples in which Foster would have had to recuse herself from voting if in office during the 2008 session. Foster brushed off the accusations.

During the 2008 legislative session, Sen. Abel Tapia, D-Pueblo, found himself in hot water for funneling money to fair contracts that benefited his engineering firm. He was ultimately cleared of any legal wrongdoing because the contracts were competitively bid, but the story made headlines for weeks.

“Nobody will ever be criticized for being too careful on ethical issues,” Witwer said.