From Denver7: A mistake by about a dozen lawmakers is getting fixed after Denver7 uncovered the errors.
State lawmakers are among the elected representatives who are required to file “personal financial disclosure statements” (PFDs) by January 10 every year.
PFDs are documents you’ve likely never heard about and will likely never hear about again.
The statements reveal where the lawmaker makes their income, what property they own and their debt. The PFDs are required under the state’s Sunshine Law. The purpose is mainly to be transparent and avoid any conflicts of interest. The law states anyone who willfully files false or incomplete information is guilty of a misdemeanor.
Denver7 learned about the documents when we were tipped off that U.S. Senate candidate Jon Keyser, a former state lawmaker, failed to file his in 2016 and was late and incomplete in 2015. After getting that tip, we reviewed hundreds of documents and discovered 12 other lawmakers who never filed in 2015 and/or 2016, and a number of lawmakers who filed late.
On June 14, Keyser’s spokesman Matt Connelly told Denver7, “(On June 10), Jon submitted a personal financial disclosure document for the two weeks he served in the 2016 legislative session and amended his 2015 disclosure to clearly show the mortgage on his primary residence. The Secretary of State’s office never notified Jon of any shortcomings with his disclosures, has allowed him to amend the forms, and we’re happy to have the opportunity to amend it to explicitly show what is already obvious.”
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