{"id":2075,"date":"2025-11-05T14:31:02","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T21:31:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/colorado\/?post_type=press&p=2075"},"modified":"2025-11-05T14:31:02","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T21:31:02","slug":"ethics-watchdog-files-complaints-over-undisclosed-dark-money-luxury-retreat-for-legislators","status":"publish","type":"press","link":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/colorado\/press\/ethics-watchdog-files-complaints-over-undisclosed-dark-money-luxury-retreat-for-legislators\/","title":{"rendered":"Ethics Watchdog Files Complaints Over Undisclosed Dark Money Luxury Retreat for Legislators"},"template":"","class_list":["post-2075","press","type-press","status-publish","hentry","press_type-press-release"],"acf":{"details":{"summary":"Today, Common Cause filed complaints against more than a dozen state legislators alleging that they accepted luxury resort expenses funded by a special interest group in violation of Colorado ethics law.","featured_image":"","press_type":147,"authors":"","related_issues":[419],"related_work":false,"location":2},"sidebar":{"helper_enable_sidebar":false,"helper_media_contact":{"heading":"Media Contact","manually_enter_person":false,"person":"","name":"","role":"","phone":"","email":""},"helper_links_downloads":{"heading":"Links & Downloads","links":null}},"page_layout":[{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_wysiwyg":{"content":"Today, Common Cause <\/span>filed complaints<\/span><\/a> against more than a dozen state legislators alleging that they accepted luxury resort expenses funded by a special interest group in violation of Colorado ethics law. Attorney Scott Moss filed the complaint on behalf of Common Cause with the Colorado Independent Ethics Commission.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nThe complaint alleges that the legislators are members of the \u201cColorado Opportunity Caucus\u201d\u00a0 which was created, staffed, and funded by a pro-business dark money group, One Main Street.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n\u201cFrom the President down to state lawmakers, Coloradans pay the price when leaders put wealthy special interests before constituents\u2019 needs,\u201d said <\/span>Aly Belknap, executive director of Colorado Common Cause<\/b>. \u201cLegislators need to be accountable to the people, not to dark money groups that secretly buy their favor. Colorado\u2019s Independent Ethics Commission must investigate and remedy the situation to preserve trust in government.\u201d<\/span>\r\n\r\nThe complaint provides evidence that Opportunity Caucus leaders explicitly asked One Main Street to pay a $25,000 bill for their legislators\u2019 hotel rooms at the luxury resort in Vail where One Main Street organized a secret \u201csummit\u201d for legislators to be lobbied by industry advocates.\u00a0 This transaction appears to be in blatant violation of the state constitution\u2019s \u201cgift ban\u201d which Common Cause advocated for, and Colorado voters overwhelmingly approved, almost two decades ago.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n\u201cThese complaints highlight the influence-selling shenanigans that the Opportunity Caucus schemed in the shadows, hoping there would be no Common Cause to blow the whistle,\u201d <\/span>said attorney Scott Moss<\/b>. \u201cThis \u2018Opportunity Caucus\u2019 seems less about creating space for legislators to truly caucus amongst themselves, and more about creating opportunity for lobbyists to exert undue influence.\u201d<\/span>\r\n\r\nTo view the complaints, <\/span>click here<\/b><\/a>.<\/span>"}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_add_component","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_add_component":null},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_work","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_work":{"heading":"Work","manually_curate":false,"work":null}}]},"yoast_head":"\nEthics Watchdog Files Complaints Over Undisclosed Dark Money Luxury Retreat for Legislators - Common Cause Colorado<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/colorado\/press\/ethics-watchdog-files-complaints-over-undisclosed-dark-money-luxury-retreat-for-legislators\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ethics Watchdog Files Complaints Over Undisclosed Dark Money Luxury Retreat for Legislators\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/colorado\/press\/ethics-watchdog-files-complaints-over-undisclosed-dark-money-luxury-retreat-for-legislators\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Common Cause Colorado\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/colorado\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/co-ethics-share.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/colorado\/press\/ethics-watchdog-files-complaints-over-undisclosed-dark-money-luxury-retreat-for-legislators\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/colorado\/press\/ethics-watchdog-files-complaints-over-undisclosed-dark-money-luxury-retreat-for-legislators\/\",\"name\":\"Ethics Watchdog Files Complaints Over Undisclosed Dark Money Luxury Retreat for Legislators - Common Cause Colorado\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/colorado\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-05T21:31:02+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/colorado\/press\/ethics-watchdog-files-complaints-over-undisclosed-dark-money-luxury-retreat-for-legislators\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/colorado\/press\/ethics-watchdog-files-complaints-over-undisclosed-dark-money-luxury-retreat-for-legislators\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/colorado\/press\/ethics-watchdog-files-complaints-over-undisclosed-dark-money-luxury-retreat-for-legislators\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/colorado\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Ethics Watchdog Files Complaints Over Undisclosed Dark Money Luxury Retreat for Legislators\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/colorado\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/colorado\/\",\"name\":\"Common Cause Colorado\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/colorado\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ethics Watchdog Files Complaints Over Undisclosed Dark Money Luxury Retreat for Legislators - Common Cause Colorado","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/colorado\/press\/ethics-watchdog-files-complaints-over-undisclosed-dark-money-luxury-retreat-for-legislators\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ethics Watchdog Files Complaints Over Undisclosed Dark Money Luxury Retreat for Legislators","og_url":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/colorado\/press\/ethics-watchdog-files-complaints-over-undisclosed-dark-money-luxury-retreat-for-legislators\/","og_site_name":"Common Cause Colorado","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/colorado\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/co-ethics-share.png","type":"image\/png"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/colorado\/press\/ethics-watchdog-files-complaints-over-undisclosed-dark-money-luxury-retreat-for-legislators\/","url":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/colorado\/press\/ethics-watchdog-files-complaints-over-undisclosed-dark-money-luxury-retreat-for-legislators\/","name":"Ethics Watchdog Files Complaints Over Undisclosed Dark Money Luxury Retreat for Legislators - Common Cause Colorado","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/colorado\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-11-05T21:31:02+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/colorado\/press\/ethics-watchdog-files-complaints-over-undisclosed-dark-money-luxury-retreat-for-legislators\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/colorado\/press\/ethics-watchdog-files-complaints-over-undisclosed-dark-money-luxury-retreat-for-legislators\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/colorado\/press\/ethics-watchdog-files-complaints-over-undisclosed-dark-money-luxury-retreat-for-legislators\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/colorado\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Ethics Watchdog Files Complaints Over Undisclosed Dark Money Luxury Retreat for Legislators"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/colorado\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/colorado\/","name":"Common Cause Colorado","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/colorado\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Common Cause Colorado","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/colorado","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/colorado\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/2075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/colorado\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/colorado\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/press"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/colorado\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/2075\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2076,"href":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/colorado\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/2075\/revisions\/2076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/colorado\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}