Gifts to governor still in legal limbo

Ritter accepted freebies that ranged from Series tickets to a $500 watch

By Alan Gathright, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published February 26, 2008 at 12:30 a.m.

Text size

Ritter accepted about $7,500 in gifts in a nearly 14-month span.

More Local News

More stories »

Now that the ethics law will be back in effect in two weeks, will Gov. Bill Ritter be coughing up $1,317 for the five World Series tickets he was given when Amendment 41 was in legal limbo?

Like all things about the murky, headache-inducing ethics law, there wasn't a clear-cut answer - at least not from Ritter spokesman Evan Dreyer.

He said the Colorado Supreme Court's ruling Monday "highlights the importance of getting the fifth and final member (of the independent ethics commission) named and seated quickly."

"When that happens, then we can start to present broader policy issues and more specific questions to the commission and begin to resolve some of the uncertainty that remains," Dreyer added.

For example, was it OK for the Democratic governor to accept the World Series tickets from Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper and two longtime friends after May 31 when a Denver trial judge blocked a provision in the measure that banned freebies of more than $50?

"I think that that would be something that could be asked of the commission, that kind of a specific circumstance," Dreyer said.

In all, Ritter accepted about $7,500 in gifts - mostly for sporting events - after he was elected governor in November 2006 through Dec. 31, 2007. Gifts included two tickets to a Faith Hill-Tim McGraw concert (Ritter took his 14-year-old daughter), fly-fishing guide services and a $500 watch given by Prince Faisal Bin Al-Hussein during a Jordanian state visit.

For the record: Ritter's predecessor, Republican Gov. Bill Owens, got about $40,000 in speaking fees and gifts in his first year in 1999, seven years before Amendment 41.

Subscribe to the Rocky Mountain News