Federal examination of the judicial scandal in Colorado at the hearing | News

The Colorado Commission, which was responsible for the discipline of the state judges on Monday, announced that it had quietly dismissed an elaborate, voluminous and far-reaching anonymous complaint, which claimed a persistent judicial conspiracy for the covering up years of misconduct.

This decision was made months after the former director of the Commission for Justice Discipline had declared that he had asked the federal investigators to immerse themselves in a long -term scandal that broke out in 2019 with an alleged contract for the Silz, which reached Colorado's highest court.

The revelations came from the commission members during a hearing from the Justice Committee of the State of the Senate Justice Committee to confirm the establishment of the Governor units of the two best members of the Commission for Justice Discipline.

Although no reason has been stated why the complaint was rejected, the Commission's provisions stipulates a dismissal when it is found that allegations are not credible or fall outside the Commission's authority, such as the decision of a judge.

The seven -member legislative committee decided to have a vote that was largely concluded on the statement by the former director of the Commission, Christopher Gregory, who was created for the creation of a resolution in which he had requested years ago.

“I would like to put my colleague's request to understand for an additional time to understand what is apparently a very important problem,” said Senator Lisa Fricell, a Republican of Douglas County, who found a former request from Senator John Carson, a single Republican, to do the same.

These are the new places of Mindy Sooter and Jim Carpenter, the chairman or deputy chairman of the 10-member discipline commission. Sooter is a lawyer and carpenter, a citizen who is not a lawyer or judge.

Asked to reject the senators to reject the appointment – an unusual event for political appointments to a state board of directors or a commission – warned of “a program of ongoing public corruption and public fraud”, which has been noted since the start of the scandal. In early 2021 it broke out with allegations that the then Chief Justice Nathan “Ben” chat, who approved the contract for the weight.

According to Gregory, part of this program includes the public silence of a voluminous anonymous complaint, which was submitted in October with three state orders and the FBI, in which there is a far -reaching conspiracy, the long -term suspected lies, retaliation and abuse of public funds.

The Commission has not made a public statement on the allegations in the 330-page complaint, which contained another 3,100 pages with exhibitions by Monday.

Senator Julie Gonzales, D-Denver, said that she had “read the entirety” of the complaint-“yes, I am this person”, she joked the committee and it “gave her” deeply concerned “.

Gregory informed the senators on Monday that he contacted the public integrity department of the US Justice Ministry on Monday and offered a collaboration for an investigation by the Commission and the Justice Department in Colorado, which he described as full conflicts of interest.

Gregory informed the senators that he had been attributed to the Denver office in Denver, which he should not have been involved because a high -ranking member of his civil department, Kevin Traskos, is married to Melissa Hart to Colorado's highest court.

Instead, Gregory said he was “ghosts” by Denvers Doj office.

Gregory, a strong supporter of the state's state system, said that he was released in January 2024 as retaliation “because he had the integrity to fulfill the duties of his post” and “to pursue the accountability for the most important forms of judicial misconduct”.

Gregory was replaced by sooters in early 2024. Gregory's testimony took place during an unusual public comment against political appointment, an annual process that normally goes through quietly and without much knowledge. The senators had to rely on a little used rule that allows public comments.

In front of several senators who had previously worked with him to write changes to the state's discipline system, which culminated in November with the constitution of voters to change the constitution of Colorado, said the anonymous complaint called for further changes that were not addressed.

The silence scheme “has not been seen since the 1920s (in Colorado) when the KKK took over the state and the local government,” said Gregory. “In addition to the assertion of misconduct by the (Supreme Court) judge, the (complaint) expressly claims misconduct by members of the (discipline) commission … including both the chairman and the deputy chairman.”

The commission had previously not answered an update on inquiries from the Denver Gazette on how to deal with the complaint. At the hearing on Monday, the director of the Commission, Anne Mangiardi, said nothing was published because the complaint was submitted anonymously, which meant that nobody happened in a process that enables complainants to get updates.

“Well, despite his consciousness for the allegations contained in the (complaint), Governor Jared Polis has re -created” sooter and carpenter.

Gregory was the chairman of the Commission when Polis decided in July 2021 not to appoint him again in a second term. The Commission commissioned Gregory later as its executive director this year.

The anonymous complaint stated, such as the view of civil servants who were sufficiently misleading and deliberately hindered by the judges of the Colorado's Supreme Court, the General Prosecutor and a Litany of others within the judicial department, while additional studies on other details were insured that were uncovered.

“There are significant and reliable evidence that the judges of the Colorado Supreme Court, Attorney General of Colorado and other civil servants/employees, have to openly entangle a pattern of the abuse of public resources, public resources and the authority of their positions that are illegally hidden.

“This fraudulent behavior includes a intimidation pattern, retaliation measures and the abuse of public funds (more than $ 4 million since 2019), to negotiate general waiver/non-open statement contracts with which victims, whistleblowers and even other officials are to be silenced.”

Gonzales said that the compliant “as an institution has given us a mirror to me and us as an institution” that the possibilities of taking people to account were missing.

“It's worrying,” she said.

Sootter said that the judges mentioned in the enormous complaint were communicated that there was no pending complaint against them and that the Commission decided to dismiss them after hours of review times.

She also noticed that allegations against her and others were “simply unfounded”.

She added that since the arrival of Mangiardi's “carried out smoothly, the commission has been carried out smoothly, processes processes, eliminated our gap and made the commission a corporation and organization in which we are proud to work.”

As a rule, the commission only acted one handful of symptoms per year. After newspaper stories about the contract and the subsequent scandal, the number of complaints has increased dramatically every year.

The scandal included a multiple million dollar contract to the former head of the lawsuit of the judicial department, Mindy Masias, which was released due to financial irregularities. She threatened a lawsuit for sexual discrimination and, according to high -ranking civil servants, received the contract for her silence at that time. Layers approved the contract and were later approved by the discipline commission, which made it the highest ranking judge who was ever disciplined.

The following investigations paid by the judicial department found that there was no contract for the relief and that layers simply lost control of the department.

Since then, the Supreme Court has limited the term of a highest judge to share the seated judges, which are also connections to other parts of the department.

The Senate Committee has not planned when it will vote on the appointments of Sooter and Carpenter.

The legislative session should end next week.