State Rep. Elisabeth Epps is raising eyebrows for continuing her other job leading a criminal justice nonprofit that lobbies state lawmakers, because it’s such an obvious conflict of interest doncha think?
As executive director of the Colorado Freedom Fund, Epps hired outside lobbyists to lobby her and her legislature buddies to pass six bills on which Epps was a primary sponsor, plus eight other bills in which she just so happened to vote in lockstep with her organization’s position.
She’s the founder of this special interest group and its executive director.
Yet her policy director told Axios Denver with what we assume was a straight face, that Epps is not the final decision maker when it comes to setting their legislative priorities or hiring lobbyists.
From the jaw-dropping report:
For example in 2023, she voted in a House committee to kill Senate-approved legislation that increased penalties for selling drugs to someone who then died. Her organization lobbied against the bill.
In 2023 and 2024, she introduced legislation to legalize supervised drug-use sites, which her organization lobbied for. Both bills failed.
So not only does she do a lousy job as a state legislator, but her organization also does a lousy job in advocating for their issues.
Hilariously, Epps didn’t respond to the report because her automated email response says she’s out of the office until after the election.
Then there’s the wildly inappropriate perception of double-dipping, as organizations donate huge sums of money to the social justice organization, which also pays Epps’s salary.
At least one organization that donated a million bucks to Epps’ group also lobbies state lawmakers — the Colorado Health Foundation.
In her reelection campaign to a second term, Epps is trying to fashion herself as the candidate for ethical reforms because she tattles on other lawmakers.
Yet the conflict of interest between her day job running a so-called non-profit and her sworn constitutional duties as a state lawmaker are the epitome of ethical failures.