Complainant wants ethics panel to subpoena records

The investment adviser who lodged an ethics complaint against Mayor Lionel Rivera isn't going to hand over brokerage statements that purportedly show the mayor's business ties to a developer who won a multimillion dollar city contract last year.

Ron Johnson, president and chief executive officer of Colorado Springs-based Central Bancorp, is putting the onus on the city's Independent Ethics Commission.

He wants the City Council-appointed panel to use its subpoena power to obtain account statements from UBS Financial Services, where Rivera works as vice president of investments.

"The holder of those statements is eager to provide them to the Commission," Johnson said Tuesday in a letter to City Attorney Patricia Kelly.

"The statement holder is, however, restricted from freely distributing the statements due to ongoing legal actions involving (Ray) Marshall," he said, referring to the chairman of LandCo Equity Partners, which beat out three other companies for a $53 million deal with the city and the U.S. Olympic Committee.

"A subpoena from the Commission would bring those statements to light," Johnson said.
Johnson didn't identify the "statement holder" in the letter. He did not return a call or e-mail for comment.

Jan Doran, one of three commission members, said it "would not be ethical" for the commission to discuss the matter.

"I really can't comment on anything until we have the next hearing," she said Friday.
City spokeswoman Sue Skiffington-Blumberg said the commission's next meeting is June 12.

When the commission met to review the conflict-of-interest complaint against the mayor earlier this week, commissioners asked Johnson for more "specificity" and documents to support the allegations.

Johnson said he would, but he expressed frustration over the commission's request.

"Rather than taking the initiative to use their powers that they're granted under the ordinance to investigate more fully, they instead chose to deflect what they had received and put the onus back on the public," he said after the hearing.

The commission "may issue subpoenas for the production of documents or the attendance of witnesses," according to its rules of procedure.

"Failure to honor a subpoena shall be punishable as provided by law," the rules state.
In the letter to Kelly, Johnson repeats his allegations.

"The conflict exists by virtue of Mayor Rivera's employment and compensation at UBS Securities where Mr. Rivera manages accounts of, and accounts controlled by LandCo and Ray Marshall, from which Mr. Rivera receives direct or indirect compensation," the letter states. "Mayor Rivera has engaged ... in activity that may create the appearance that he is violating ethical standards."

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