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Amendment 41 isn't law yet, AG argues

Lynn Bartels, Rocky Mountain News

Published April 3, 2007 at midnight

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Lobbyists can't buy legislators a cup of coffee - or anything else - and free breakfasts at the Capitol have been outlawed, all in the name of Amendment 41.

But Attorney General John Suthers' office, in a court filing, now maintains that the ethics measure that voters approved last November isn't officially the law yet.

That's news to Rep. Larry Liston.

"We've all been afraid of our shadow ever since this thing was signed into law," the Colorado Springs Republican said Monday.

Not that any lobbyist should come running forward with free Rockies tickets just yet.

"You generally advise people to take the more cautious approach," said Maurice Knaizer, a deputy attorney general.

The attorney general's opinion was included in a filing Friday in connection with a lawsuit over Amendment 41. Several parties have sued Gov. Bill Ritter over the ethics measure, saying it is unconstitutional.

Suthers' office, which represents the governor, has asked that the lawsuit in Denver District Court be dismissed.

"They're suing the governor saying you can't enforce the law because it's unconstitutional," said Suthers' spokesman, Nate Strauch. "We're saying you can't do that because the governor doesn't have enforcement over the legislation."

Members of the First Amendment Council, the group that filed the lawsuit, want the case to proceed.

"We can understand why Gov. Ritter and Attorney General Suthers would not want to be put in the position of defending this poorly written, ill-conceived law," said Bill Becker, First Amendment Council president.

Amendment 41 outlaws gifts of $50 or more to elected officials, government workers, government contractors and their families. It forbids lobbyists from giving anything to a legislator. It restricts elected officials from lobbying for a certain time period after leaving office.

The measure also creates an ethics commission to review complaints. The Senate on Monday approved a bill that creates that commission.

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