Legislative immunity & ethics committees: Colorado Constitution needs moderizing

I have been stunned at the bizarre turn-of-events surrounding the Denver Police’s traffic stop of Rep Laura Bradford. Not only did the police lie about the use of legislative immunity, then Speaker Frank McNulty decided to proceed with an ethics committee. Since when did an “ethics committee” replace courts of law? The question for the body is did Bradford invoke the clause, the police say no. Therefore the question is moot. It is also time to question the reason for an ethics committee in the first place? So far the committee has only been used for politically motivated “public hangings”. What happened to the presumption of innocence or the right of an appeal? The committee’s power usurps these rights.

Even if the committee decides it was unwise for the Denver Police to have granted special treatment, it becomes a moot point, as the clause is written into the Colorado Constitution. It isn’t unethical to assert legal rights, even if those rights themselves are at the center of the public debate. A reasonable person would normally be ecstatic with police granting a warning, a legislator, as a person, would follow suit. Bradford actually went beyond the standard of normalcy by asking police to give her no special treatment and to consider her a regular person.

McNulty should have waited and gathered facts to see if there was a cause for action. The Denver Police should have upheld the letter law, pursued a charge of driving under the influence, if they believed they had a case against Bradford. If the police had arrested Bradford, then the worst case scenario would have been a judge chiding the police for violating the constitution.

It is time to review of the Constitutional clause of legislator immunity and the legality of the House Ethics Committee. It is abhorrent that state legislators are granted special licence plates for their motor vehicles – something which encourages police to grant immunity carte blanche. The “internal ethics court” promotes abuse of power by House leadership. If legislators are to be treated as regular citizens, then they should be subject to the same laws and courts as everyone else!