From ColoradoWatchdog.org:  Since its inception nearly 50 years ago, the Colorado Commission on Judicial Discipline has only made three disciplinary cases against judges public, and the director told Watchdog.org that even the commission’s budget is a state secret.

Colorado, whose judicial discipline secrecy is enshrined in the state constitution, is one of only a handful of states where the fact-finding hearing after formal charges isn’t public, records from the American Judicature Society show. In the three times the information was released in Colorado there was a formal hearing scheduled before the state Supreme Court.

CCJD Executive Director William Campbell, who noted he increased transparency since taking over about six years ago, said the process works fine and sees no reason to change it.

“When there’s a problem, we address it,” he said. “Nothing is getting shuffled under the rug.”

But Cynthia Gray, director of the Center for Judicial Ethics, said judges should face a similar system as when there are criminal complaints against average people.

“That’s how the court system works,” she said. “The grand jury proceedings are confidential, but when an indictment is filed it is public.”

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