DENVER — While the Denver Ethics Board said it was “troubled” by Denver Mayor Michael Hancock’s decision to travel over the Thanksgiving holiday while publicly telling people not to, it has unanimously dismissed the complaint against him.
This decision came down on Wednesday morning. The board said the complaint against the mayor ultimately did not rise to the level of an ethics violation.
In an interview with 9NEWS, Hancock called his decision to travel over the holiday "hypocritical" and a "mistake that I deeply regret and apologize for."
RELATED: After warnings to avoid travel, Denver Mayor Hancock flies to visit family for Thanksgiving
The mayor flew from Denver International Airport to Houston the day before Thanksgiving, and he went to Mississippi to visit his daughter.
Thirty minutes before his flight was slated to leave, Hancock's Twitter account tweeted to "avoid travel, if you can" to slow the spread of COVID-19.
"It was just my personal desire, it was a personal decision that I made, not a wise one, and I'm man enough to say it, that I should not have made the trip," Hancock said.
> The video above is from 9NEWS' interview with Hancock about his decision to travel for Thanksgiving despite telling the public not to.
In an email to city staff on Nov. 18, Hancock wrote, “as the holidays approach, we all long to be with our families in person, but with the continued rise in cases, I’m urging you to refrain from travel this Thanksgiving holiday. For my family that means cancelling our traditional gathering of our extended family.”
In the email, Hancock also said anyone who travels out of state should quarantine for 14 days and that employees who can’t work from home will need to use their paid time off for the leave.
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