A government watchdog in Colorado has raised speculation that Gov. Bill Ritter has failed to follow state ethics guidelines pertaining to conflicts of interest. According to an Independence Institute report:

Governor Ritter’s office has only one “conflict of interest” report on file for the fifteen members of his cabinet, despite an executive order that requires each and every member of his cabinet to file such a disclosure.

An executive order by Governor Bill Owens requires that all cabinet members as well as senior staff members submit a conflicts of interest report before the end of January every year. The Independence Institute filed a Colorado Open Records Act Request with the Governor’s office asking for copies of all the current reports. Craig Welling, Deputy Legal Counsel for Governor Ritter indicated that there were only three pages of “responsive” documents. Those documents were conflict of interest reports from Agriculture Secretary John Stulp.

“If Governor Ritter wants to overturn an executive order that brings a higher level of transparency and ethics to his administration, he’s certainly free to do so, and face the political consequences,” said Independence Institute President Jon Caldara. “But as long as the order stands, he ought to have his cabinet members follow the letter and spirit of this executive order. We certainly know he hasn’t been shy about making sweeping changes with executive orders, like bringing collective bargaining powers to the state workers of Colorado.”

As of this publication, the Governor’s office has not returned any requests for comment.

Dave Kopel, Research Director with the Independence Institute lays out the “legal weight” of an executive order:

“Executive orders” are orders, not suggestions. Employees of the executive branch in Colorado are legally bound to comply with all executive orders. Of course a governor has the discretion to revoke his previous orders, or the orders of any of his predecessors. If the Governor does not revoke an order, it remains legally binding. For example, Governor Ritter has issued an order for the “Colorado Transparency Online Project.” If Governor Ritter resigned tomorrow to take a federal job, or if another governor were elected in 2012, executive branch employees would still have to obey Governor Ritter’s order for the Colorado Transparency Online Project–unless the new governor revoked that order. Similarly, Governor Owens’ order on the “Executive Department Code of Ethics” remains legally binding, since it has not been revoked.

David Wilson served on the ethics board for all eight years of the Owens administration, and says all cabinet members and senior staff were one hundred percent compliant with the ethics executive order during that time.

Apart from the executive order for financial disclosures from cabinet members and senior staff, financial disclosures are required by law for all members of the Colorado General Assembly. All officials elected to statewide office are also required to file financial disclosures with the Colorado Secretary of state.

At a federal level, all members of the House of Representatives file financial disclosure reports, but members of the Senate do not.