Next Tuesday’s special meeting of the Legislative Audit Committee, called by Chair Rep. Lori Saine, a Dacono Republican, is already raising eyebrows about the scope of the hearing as well as a second attempt by Republicans to use the audit committee for partisan purposes.

“It is definitely disappointing to see the committee, which has a long track record of bipartisanship, being abused so badly,” said Jarrett Freedman, spokesman for House Democrats.

In the past year, Republicans have tried to use the audit committee to deal with partisan political issues. A year ago, committee Republicans tried to get an audit of the fund used to pay legal fees for the defense of former Gov. John Hickenlooper, who was then a candidate for the U.S. Senate and facing an ethics investigation.

The audit request was turned down on a 4-4 vote.

RELATED: Legislative Audit squabbles over request to investigate fund that’s paying Hickenlooper’s legal expenses

The Dec. 15 committee hearing is expected to look into election voting systems — Saine told Colorado Politics she has invited Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems to send a representative — as well as other allegations around election irregularities, contained in a press release Wednesday, that have already been thoroughly debunked.

RELATED: Legislative Audit committee to take on election integrity

Several committee members, including Democrats, have also invited people to testify at the hearing, according to Saine.

But a larger question remains on just what the audit committee has the authority to do with regard to elections, as well as what the state auditor and her staff could do.

State Auditor Dianne Ray said her office has the authority to audit the Secretary of State’s Office. However, the state auditor has no authority over counties and by extension the counties’ handling of elections. Ray told Colorado Politics Thursday the committee could discuss potential audits that could be conducted under her authority.

The audit committee and state auditor also have no authority over private companies, such as Dominion.

One former lawmaker — a past chair of the committee — warns that the continued attempts to use the committee for partisan purposes could have consequences for Republicans.

Former state Sen. Ron Tupa, a Boulder Democrat, served as chair of the audit committee in 2003 and as its vice chair in 2004. He warned that Democrats could decide to change the committee’s political makeup, given that Democrats hold a solid majority in the House and 20-15 advantage in the Senate going into 2021.

He called the Republicans’ efforts a Pyrrhic victory. “The certain consequence of this unfortunate and entirely avoidable political stunt will be the end of any Republican Chairmanship and a likely change to the 4-4 bi-partisan balance in favor of a Democratic majority of 5-3 or 6-4 in the future.”

He also criticized Democrats’ cooperation in holding the hearing. 

“That any Democrats would be attending the meeting, therefore, is a mistake both on a political level and on a principled level….the political level by giving the Republicans a legitimate platform for a truly partisan and ridiculous ‘non-issue’, and on the principle level of being a violation of the role and mission of the LAC itself, and contrary to its proper function.”

The other consequence is tied to changing the current rules about who can call a special meeting of the audit committee.

Current rules state that a special meeting may be called by a vote of five out of the eight committee members or by the committee chair, which is how the Dec. 15 meeting came about.

That rule could be changed to require only a vote of five committee members, instead of also allowing the chair to make a unilateral decision. Tupa claimed that under a current interpretation of the rules the chair “may” make that call, but Ray said her interpretation does allow for that.

“Is transparency in elections so obnoxious that they would threaten the makeup of the committee?” Saine responded. “I’ve been very careful about talking to most of the committee members,” including Democrats, as well as to Speaker of the House KC Becker of Boulder. Saine said she’s made sure to obtain input from both parties. “We want to get to the truth. Election integrity should be a bipartisan issue.”

The committee is slated to meet at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 15, one day after the Electoral College is scheduled to vote to elect President-elect Biden.