The good news for John Hickenlooper is the Colorado Independent Ethics Commission has shortened the list of ethical complaints it will investigate.
The bad news: There’s an actual list of potential law breaking by the former governor — secret gifts and favors that violate state ethics laws.
The Ethics Commission voted unanimously to begin the investigations.
Permit us to be the first to say, ouch.
The list was shortened to exclude complaints that were outside the commission’s time jurisdiction — only those occurring in the previous year.
They also took trips to Canada and Aspen off the list after Hick showed statements of payment, and some costs to Italy for the Bilderberg Meetings trip, but not all.
The ethics complaints were filed by former House Speaker Frank McNulty with the Public Trust Institute.
Here’s what Hick’s on the hook for ethically, as reported by Colorado Politics:
Turin, Italy: Who paid for Hick’s meals, car travel and other Bilderberg conference expenses? Was it Fiat Chrysler, the conference’s sponsor?
Groton, Connecticut: Who paid for Hick’s travel to the USS Colorado commissioning? Was it aboard a private jet owned by Larry Mizel of M.D.C. Holdings?
New Jersey: A private jet owned by Kenneth Tuchman, founder of an outsourcing company, flew Hick to be with his wife there for surgery, and back for his State of the State address.
Jackson Hole, Wyoming: American Enterprise Institute Conference, Hick traveled to the meeting aboard private aircraft owned his chief of staff.
Who knew government employees could afford their own planes?
This doesn’t bode well for Hick’s presidential or Senate aspirations. It will be a rocky campaign with all of these ethical allegations and investigations hanging over his head.