Taxpayers To Fund Legal Defense For Democrats In Vail Ethics Case

By Taylor Dolven | The Colorado Sun

Taxpayers will cover the legal bills for 15 Democratic state lawmakers who face ethics complaints related to a dark money-funded weekend retreat held in Vail last month. 

The legislature’s Committee on Legal Services, a bipartisan panel, voted unanimously Thursday to hire attorney Mark Grueskin of the firm Recht Kornfeld to represent the Democrats. He will be paid $250 an hour for his work.

The Committee on Legal Services regularly approves publicly funded legal counsel for lawmakers who are sued or face other legal issues in their official capacity. Work on any future appeals for the 15 Democrats, should they arise, will have to go back to the committee for approval.

“My vote is rooted in a simple principle that everyone deserves access to counsel,” said state Rep. Javier Mabrey, a Denver Democrat who sits on the Committee on Legal Services and has been critical of the Vail gathering. “That principle does not waver one inch from my deep conviction that corporate dark money groups and the ultra wealthy exert far too much influence over our political system.”

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