Ethics panel named to investigate Hanna

Lynn Bartels, Rocky Mountain News

Published February 23, 2006 at midnight

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A Senate ethics committee will investigate a Democratic lawmaker's request for "reparations" from a real estate organization that endorsed her Republican opponent in the 2004 election.

Sen. Deanna Hanna, D-Lakewood, has said she did nothing wrong by asking the group for $1,400, but the Senate minority leader, Rep. Andy McElhany, R-Colorado Springs, called it "extortion."

Senate Majority Leader Ken Gordon, D-Denver, sought the investigation following a report last week in the Rocky Mountain News that Hanna had demanded the money from the state Association of Realtors.

Gordon said Wednesday that Hanna's letter to the group implied that if the Realtors didn't pay up, their issues wouldn't be supported.

"Senator Hanna's language - whether she was intentionally soliciting money for favorable legislative action, which would be a crime, or through some lapse of judgment has written a letter capable of misinterpretation - tends to bring the Senate into disrepute, damages the Senate's reputation and serves to destroy the faith the public has in legislative bodies," Gordon wrote in his complaint.

It is believed to be only the second time in legislative history that an ethics committee has been formed to investigate a lawmaker.

"I know the process. I'm prepared to go through it and in the end I think I will be vindicated," Hanna said.

The five-member committee, composed of three Democrats and two Republicans, could recommend that the complaint be dismissed or that Hanna be sanctioned, including being kicked out of the Senate.

The probe is sure to provide a dramatic backstory to the legislative session because it comes at a time when ethics is a looming issue in both national and local politics.

That may be why the Senate decided to investigate Hanna, said Steve Welchert, a Democratic political consultant and former legislative lobbyist for Gov. Dick Lamm.

"Did Deanna Hanna push the envelope a little too far? Maybe so," he said. "But it's an everyday occurrence at the legislature. I've seen it, I've heard it, I've witnessed it."

In 2004, Hanna ran for re-election against Republican Tori Merritts. Both had sought an endorsement from the Jefferson County branch of the Realtors' group, which said it decided not to back a candidate.

But after the election, Hanna discovered the state group had endorsed her opponent and contributed to her campaign.

"The point is I got screwed in the process and I was upset I was treated so shabbily," Hanna told the News. "They lied to me."

She asked the state group's political action committee for $1,400. The group gave Hanna $400, and in 2005 she demanded the rest.

"My reparations request stands," she wrote in a letter, a copy of which was obtained by Republicans. "It seems a rather small price to pay for creating a fracture in my relation with your organization. It is my hope that you will make our relationship whole again. There are going to be some very important issues ahead of us.

"You have a choice. So do I."

Hanna said she never intended to imply that legislation backed by the Realtors was in peril if the group didn't pay up.

But Gordon believed otherwise.

"A reasonable interpretation . . . is that Sen. Hanna was attempting to put the Realtors in fear that she would not be supportive of their interest in the 'important issues ahead' if they did not make the contribution that she was requesting," he wrote in his complaint.

Asked if it was tough to file a complaint against a member of his own party, Gordon said he didn't let that influence his decision.

"I'm in leadership, and I need to protect the integrity of the Senate," he said. "This gives her an opportunity to defend herself, too."

Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald, D-Coal Creek Canyon, appointed the three Democrats to the committee: Jennifer Veiga and Dan Grossman, of Denver, and Sue Windels, of Arvada. McElhany appointed the two Republicans: Steve Johnson, of Fort Collins, and Ron Teck, of Grand Junction. Veiga will be chairwoman.

What comes next

Here are the procedures for investigating the ethics complaint against Sen. Deanna Hanna, D-Lakewood:

• The ethics committee has 30 days to decide if there are grounds for the complaint.

• If the five-member committee of three Democrats and two Republicans determines a violation has occurred, Hanna has seven days to request a hearing, where testimony under oath can be taken. The committee has subpoena power.

• Based on the hearing, the committee can dismiss the complaint or recommend to the Democratic-controlled Senate that Hanna be reprimanded, censured or expelled.Source: Www.Leg.State.Co.Us

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