Pueblo city councilwoman denies allegations in ethics complaint questioning her residency
PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) -- An ethics complaint filed against a Pueblo City Councilwoman raises questions about her residency as an elected official in the city.
Pueblo city rules require elected officials to live within their respective districts in the city limits.
The complaint accuses Pueblo Councilwoman Lori Winner of registering her personal vehicle in another state while operating it in Colorado.
The complaint, dated March 7, 2022, was filed by Vera Tate, a Pueblo Citizen. In the complaint, Tate accuses Winner of purchasing an "investment property in Texas for the purpose of saving Colorado registration fees."
The complaint obtained by 13 Investigates claims that Winner registered her vehicle, a silver Jeep, in Texas. The complaint reads, "In order to obtain her Texas vehicle registrations for herself and for her husband, indicated under oath that she resides in the state of Texas."
The complaint provides pictures of the vehicle plates and registration are shown below.
Via Ethics Complaint
"The law says that if you reside in a place for ninety days that you have to register it in the city you are residing in," Tate said.
Winner told 13 Investigates her decision to invest in real estate in Texas was not to save money on car registration fees.
"If she thinks that I would invest $400,000 in real estate to obtain cheaper plates, that's a little ridiculous," Winner said. "I also own seven investment properties in Pueblo and an investment property in Mexico."
The complaint states: "Councilperson Winner and her husband purchased [a] property in South Padre Island, Texas, on March 20, 2020."
"If it is illegal for city council members to own investment property or any kind of property outside of Pueblo, they probably need to change the charter for that and have people dump their assets before they even have a petition signed for office," Winner said.
Tate tells 13 Investigates she wants to see Winner resign her seat on the Pueblo City Council because of her alleged "lack of residency."
Tate says if Winner decides to register her license plates in Colorado, she will drop her ethics complaint against the councilwoman.
"If you are going to live and represent Pueblo, then live and represent Pueblo by registering your license plates," Tate said.
Winner tells 13 Investigates she believes there is political motivation behind the complaint.
"This is dirty politics," Winner said.
Tate denies that any political motivation led to the filing of her complaint.
This is the third ethics complaint against a Pueblo City Council member within the last two months.
The Pueblo City Council is now tasked with investigating the ethics complaint against Winner at a future city council meeting. It's unclear at this time when that investigation will take place.
