Democrat state Reps allege colleagues violated open meeting laws, used encrypted messages
DENVER, Colo. (KRDO) -- Two freshman lawmakers in the Colorado House of Representatives allege that Colorado's open meetings laws have been disregarded by both sides of the aisle. In a newly filed lawsuit in Denver District Court, the pair are suing the Majority and Minority leaders, the Speaker of the House, and the parties' causes themselves.
The lawsuit has been filed on behalf of two democrats, Elisabeth Epps and Robert "Bob" Marshall, by attorney Steve Zansberg, the President of the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition. The lawsuit says that the lawmakers "are forced to enlist the authority of the State’s judicial branch to bring the legislature into compliance with Colorado Open Meetings Laws (COML) and to ensure that the House of Representatives conducts its public business publicly as required by Colorado law, not in secret."
The pair accuse members of the Democrat Caucus to have "met outside of public view, usually weekly, to discuss pending legislation." To take it even further, the lawsuit claims that these members "directed legislative aides to omit or disguise these mandatory meetings from Representatives’ calendars."
Similarly to the Democrat side, Epps and Marshall accuse members of the Republican Caucus of holding closed-door meetings that "related to pending legislation" without disclosing publicly accessible minutes.
Additionally, they say members of both sides used the encrypted messaging app "Signal" to discuss public business with one another. It's alleged that there is no track record of these communications because they "were set for automatic deletion via a disappearing messages function," the lawsuit says.
Despite their best effort to remedy this alleged violation of Colorado law, the lawsuit says their concerns were ignored by Speaker of the House Julie McCluskie and the Office of Legislative Legal Services. They were told that their concerns would be addressed; however, court documents say there was never any tangible action taken.
The lawsuit concludes by stating that Epps and Marshall were put in a position where they "must either knowingly violate Colorado law by participating in unlawful discussions of public business to ensure that their constituents are represented in meetings where public policy is being formed, or they can comply with the law by extricating themselves from critical discussions thereby depriving their constituents of
representation at meetings where public policy is formed."
The court filing seeks an order from a judge stating that both sides did in fact violate Colorado's Open Meeting Laws. It also seeks a declaration from those being sued that this lack of transparency will not continue, and take steps to ensure that occurs.
They also seek payment from both sides of all "reasonable" attorney fees associated with the filing of this lawsuit.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Democrat members being sued, said: "House Democratic leadership is committed to open and transparent government and ensuring a fair and public process for policymaking."
Roger Hudson, House Republican Deputy Chief of Staff, issued a statement saying: "This lawsuit is what Coloradans hate about politics at the Capitol. The infighting and expense is only a distraction to the priorities that they care about; improved schools, safer communities, more jobs at higher wages, and better roads throughout our state. Republicans continue to believe that the people of Colorado deserve access to their government through comprehensive open meetings and open records laws — we welcome any conversation that will update our statutes to keep up with rapidly evolving technology."
Read the full lawsuit below:
