The Colorado Independent Ethics Commission on Tuesday voted to move forward with investigations into 17 state Democratic lawmakers who have been accused of accepting illegal contributions to pay for an October retreat in Vail.

Colorado Common Cause filed complaints against members of the Colorado Opportunity Caucus, a group of moderate Democrats in the General Assembly.

The complaints were made against the following:

• Sen. Lindsey Daugherty of Arvada, the group’s chair.

• Rep. Shannon Bird of Westminster, a member of the caucus but who she did not participate in the retreat, nor was she part of the conversation seeking $25,000 from One Main Street Colorado to pay for hotel rooms at the Sonnenalp Vail resort for the Oct. 3-5 retreat. She said in a statement that she has filed a motion to dismiss the complaint.

• Reps. Tish Mauro of Pueblo, Michael Carter of Aurora, Jacque Phillips of Thornton, Rebekah Stewart of Lakewood, Meghan Lukens of Steamboat Springs, Karen McCormick of Longmont, Cecelia Espenoza and Sean Camacho, both of Denver; Matthew Martinez of Alamosa, Katie Stewart of Durango, William Lindstedt of Broomfield; Senate President pro tem Dafna Michaelson Jenet of Aurora; Sens. Marc Snyder of Colorado Springs, Kyle Mullica of Thornton and Judy Amabile of Boulder.

The Colorado Common Cause complaint said that One Main Street organized a closed-door “summit” for business advocates to “educate” Opportunity Caucus members on issues important to business interests.

Legislators couldn’t afford the $25,000 cost of their rooms at the hotel, the complaint said, “so they asked One Main Street to pay that bill”.

“One Main Street paid for legislators’ rooms as requested and also appears to have funded other expenses of the legislators’ Summit, including staff effort and food and drink,” the complaint said. “In short, OMSC wielded undisclosed influence over a large number of Colorado legislators by paying significant costs of the event, including their individual travel expenses.”

One Main Street, which only partially discloses its donors, has an independent expenditure committee. From 2022 to 2024, the group’s committee raised $1.1 million, with almost $800,000 from One Main Street.

Its most significant expenditure, totaling $505,000, was for A Whole Lot of People for Change, which says it supports “pragmatic candidates of all political parties.” In the 2024 primaries, the IEC spent only on Democratic races, including for Daugherty, Rebekah Stewart, Phillips, Espenoza, Carter, Amabile, and Camacho.

State law prohibits an independent expenditure committee from coordinating with candidates.

The ethics commission will now charge its executive director with investigating the complaints.

Under Article 29 of the state Constitution, lawmakers are not allowed to accept gifts exceeding $75 per person per year. At issue is the cost of the rooms at the Sonnenalp Vail, which came in at about $25,000 for the lawmakers. The complaint claimed the hotel charges $316 to $500 per night.

If the lawmakers are found to have violated the law, they can be fined twice the cost of the event.

In a statement Tuesday, Colorado Democratic Party Chair Shad Murib pointed to “dark money” groups for launching the complaints.

“Colorado Democrats hold ourselves to the highest ethical standards, and that includes allowing the Independent Ethics Commission to do its work without political games,” Murib said in the statement. “Lawmakers have already taken good-faith steps to address the situation before the IEC by making a sizable contribution to the Food Bank of the Rockies, regardless of whether they believe a violation occurred. If the filer were acting in good faith, these complaints would be withdrawn. I applaud Senator Lindsey Daugherty for taking swift action and appreciate her initiative.”

Coloradans deserve better than to be manipulated by a Washington, D.C. “dark money” outfit that hides its biggest donors, Murib added.

That appears to be a reference to the Working Families Party, which is aligned with progressive Democrats at the state Capitol, and which launched an “accountability campaign” last week.

Wynn Howell, state director for Working Families Power, said in a statement that the scandal is just one more sign of how One Main Street and other moneyed interests are trying to buy how the people’s business gets done.

“This corporate money warps our politics and saps resources from working families. It’s time for our representatives to choose sides: the people who elected them, or the corporations trying to buy them,” Howell said.

The Working Families Party is also a “dark money” group that does not disclose its largest funders, according to OpenSecrets.