GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. | Former state Sen. Steve King is facing another investigation after the Colorado Independent Ethics Commission on Friday voted to try to determine how the Grand Junction Republican handled his reporting requirements to the state on conflict-of-interest issues.
The ethics complaint argues that the senator failed to fill out his annual conflict-of-interest forms properly with the state, which all lawmakers are required to do.
In none of those forms does the senator report that he held staff positions at Colorado Mesa University in 2013 and 2014, his final two years in the Legislature, the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel reported (https://tinyurl.com/kf3aff8).
The Denver District Attorney’s Office declined to prosecute after investigating similar complaints last year. King has not commented on the ethics complaint.
The latest complaint is unrelated to charges King was convicted of in January that dealt with embezzlement of public property and first-degree official misconduct. That case involved his time cards while working simultaneously at the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office and Colorado Mesa University.
King pleaded guilty to both counts as part of a plea agreement. He was sentenced to two years of probation and 80 hours of public service and ordered to pay $4,800 in restitution.
Because the case does not involve the senator receiving a gift, the maximum punishment the commission can hand down is a letter of admonition, Amy DeVan, executive director of the ethics commission, said Friday.
Three of the five ethics commissioners are former state lawmakers who are well acquainted with the Legislature’s conflict-of-interest reporting rules. One of them is former Rep. Matt Smith, a Grand Junction Republican who represented Mesa and Delta counties in the Colorado House from 1996 to 2004.
Information from: The Daily Sentinel, https://www.gjsentinel.com