DENVER — Democratic Senate candidate and former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper’s legal team will file a motion Tuesday to dismiss a subpoena from the Independent Ethics Commission forcing him to testify at an upcoming video hearing.
In a previous filing, Hickenlooper’s attorneys said the remote proceeding violates his due process rights, and they asked for him to be able to submit a written statement at Thursday’s hearing instead.
The request to submit written testimony was denied last week. The fight against the subpoena will be led by Marc Elias, an attorney paid for by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Hickenlooper had previously been represented by a taxpayer-funded attorney since the complaint is related to his actions while in office.
The former governor faces an ethics probe over whether accepting private jet travel from wealthy supporters constituted illegal gifts. Hickenlooper has denied that accepting the flights broke the law.
> Watch the video above for previous coverage of Hickenlooper's ethics hearing.
Hickenlooper is seeking to delay his public testimony until August, at which time, Democratic primary voters will have decided whether Hickenlooper or former House Speaker Andrew Romanoff will face Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colorado) in the general election.
“This has nothing to do with the Democratic primary,” Hickenlooper campaign manager M.E. Smith told reporters on a conference call Thursday.
The Public Trust Institute, a group with ties to Republicans that filed the complaint against Hickenlooper, first advocated for the subpoena last week.
Former Republican House Speaker Frank McNulty, now with the Public Trust Institute, said the group would have preferred an in-person hearing but, after a series of delays, wants to move forward with the remote hearing scheduled by the IEC.
“The question now is will Hickenlooper be there or is he trying to push the consequences off until after the election,” McNulty said.
SUGGESTED VIDEOS | Full Episodes of Next with Kyle Clark