House Ethics Committee narrows evidence-gathering in probe of Rep. Weinberg

The House Ethics Committee met to review evidence collected for its preliminary investigation into allegations against Representative Weinberg and to set next steps for obtaining additional materials, including public outreach and targeted verification of documents.

Committee members and Office of Legislative Legal Services staff said they have already sent more than 25 letters seeking evidence and are screening responses for relevance and redacting personal contact information before posting to the committee’s box. "More than 25 letters were sent to way more than 25 recipients," OLLS attorney Christy Chase told the committee, summarizing the outreach effort.

The panel is conducting a preliminary investigation to determine whether probable cause exists that Rep. Weinberg violated laws, ethical principles, or committee rules outlined in the complaint. Staff noted Rep. Weinberg filed an answer on Friday the sixth that includes attachments; Ed DiCecco of OLLS said staff compiled those items into a single document and will treat attachments as part of the answer for the committee’s review.

Members debated whether staff should contact individuals whose statements were submitted with Weinberg’s answer to confirm authorship. Representative Soper and others argued simple yes-or-no confirmations would improve confidence in the record; staff advised the chair that such limited inquiries would not necessarily constitute new testimonial evidence and could be done at the chair’s direction. "If the chair was to determine this is not necessarily testimony ... it's just going to confirm ... 'is this your words?' then I think we can confirm," DiCecco said.

The committee agreed to post a general public request on its web page for additional evidence that individuals or third parties may hold, and Chair McCormick said that page should be live within 24 hours. Staff recorded this as a specific ask: requests for correspondence or documents between Rep. Weinberg or his campaign and the Secretary of State related to a pending campaign-finance complaint; verification outreach to people whose statements appear as attachments to Weinberg’s answer; a public call for materials related to alleged firearms possession and alcohol; and a request to the Brown Palace for any audio or video from the atrium on the night cited in the complaint.

Members also reviewed other allegation categories — conduct in the Veterans and State Affairs Committee, allegations of aggressive behavior toward Representative Bradley, and a "master key" claim linked to a Chief Clerk Riley investigation — and staff confirmed a redacted Riley response has been posted to the requested-evidence folder for member review.

The committee set its next meeting for Thursday the 19th at 7:30 a.m., noted Feb. 20 as a final deadline to receive requested materials for this round of consideration, and left open additional meetings the week of the 23rd if needed. "I think that covers it," Ms. Chase said as she recapped the committee’s new requests before the chair adjourned the meeting.

Next steps for the committee are procedural: post the public evidence request on the committee website, send the targeted outreach to confirm authorship of attachments, request specific Secretary of State correspondence, ask the Brown Palace for any relevant audio/video, and reconvene with any newly received evidence at the scheduled follow-up meeting.