According to Town Trustee Jerry Miller he is so busy making “hundreds of thousands of decisions” he is just to busy for ethics. The mayor, Bill Pinkham promised an ethics standard but does Bill ever remember any of the nonsense he says?
And then there is ERIC who challenged everyone to list his unethical behavior.
As a public service to satiate Eric’s request we present:
ETHICS 101
(a primer on ETHICS for elected officials in Colorado Statutory Communities)
Each trustee swore an oath upon election to follow the state constitution. Your oath is to the people of Colorado not Greg Whites convoluted often erroneous twice censured never wins in court opinion. The trustees individually are subject to the court of public opinion concerning conduct and ethics.
COLORADO CONSTITUTION
ARTICLE XXIX
ETHICS IN GOVERNMENT
Section 1. Purposes and findings.
(1) The people of the state of Colorado hereby find and declare that:
(a) The conduct of public officers, members of the general assembly, local government officials, and government employees must hold the respect and confidence of the people;
(b) They shall carry out their duties for the benefit of the people of the state;
© They shall, therefore, avoid conduct that is in violation of their public trust or that creates a justifiable impression among members of the public that such trust is being violated;
(d) Any effort to realize personal financial gain through public office other than compensation provided by law is a violation of that trust; and
(e) To ensure propriety and to preserve public confidence, they must have the benefit of specific standards to guide their conduct, and of a penalty mechanism to enforce those standards.
(2) The people of the state of Colorado also find and declare that there are certain costs associated with holding public office and that to ensure the integrity of the office, such costs of a reasonable and necessary nature should be born by the state or local government.
As used in this article, unless the context otherwise requires:
(1) "Government employee" means any employee, including independent contractors, of the state executive branch, the state legislative branch, a state agency, a public institution of higher education, or any local government, except a member of the general assembly or a public officer.
(2) "Local government" means county or municipality.
(3) "Local government official" means an elected or appointed official of a local government but does not include an employee of a local government.
(4) "Person" means any individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, limited liability company, partnership, labor organization, association, political party, committee, or other legal entity.
(5) "Professional lobbyist" means any individual who engages himself or herself or is engaged by any other person for pay or for any consideration for lobbying. "Professional lobbyist" does not include any volunteer lobbyist, any state official or employee acting in his or her official capacity, except those designated as lobbyists as provided by law, any elected public official acting in his or her official capacity, or any individual who appears as counsel or advisor in an adjudicatory proceeding.
(6) "Public officer" means any elected officer, including all statewide elected officeholders, the head of any department of the executive branch, and elected and appointed members of state boards and commissions. "Public officer" does not include a member of the general assembly, a member of the judiciary, any local government official, or any member of a board, commission, council or committee who receives no compensation other than a per diem allowance or necessary and reasonable expenses.
Section 6. Penalty.
Any public officer, member of the general assembly, local government official or government employee who breaches the public trust for private gain and any person or entity inducing such breach shall be liable to the state or local jurisdiction for double the amount of the financial equivalent of any benefits obtained by such actions. The manner of recovery and additional penalties may be provided by law.
Section 7. Counties and municipalities.
Any county or municipality may adopt ordinances or charter provisions with respect to ethics matters that are more stringent than any of the provisions contained in this article. The requirements of this article shall not apply to home rule counties or home rule municipalities that have adopted charters, ordinances, or resolutions that address the matters covered by this article.
There just isn’t any reason for confusion on this matter. The fact that so many people were providing lists to the mayor concerning ETHICS is disconcerting on several levels. The fact that the trustees and mayor acted perplexed is a totally different can of worms.
Our elected officials are subject to the State Constitution no matter what the town attorney says.
As individuals and as a group they can be brought before the State Ethics Committee.
