Denver, Colorado - In response to repeated attacks against Democratic legislators by Republican operatives, the Colorado Democratic Party today asked that Republicans clean their own house over conflicts of interest. Specifically Representatives Keith King, Al White, and Dianne Hoppe have promoted their own personal or financial interests in bills they have pushed through the legislature.

"Since Democrats always win on the issues that are important to Coloradans, Republican operatives have resorted to using phony complaints in an attempt to smear the good names of Democratic lawmakers," Colorado Democratic Party Chair Pat Waak "Remember the Republican party has Tom DeLay and Jack Abramoff. Their repeated partisan attacks have left us with no choice but to respond in kind. From this day forward, we will expose their members every day they level charges against our members."

At issue are three Republican lawmakers who have each used their position in the state House to enrich interests of personal concern to them. Representative Diane Hoppe carried legislation in 2002 that created and funded a water foundation board in a direct attempt to line her own pockets. At issue is hundreds of thousands of state dollars appropriated to the foundation, of which she is the president. Representative Keith King serves on the board of the league of charter schools. He also has pushed millions of dollars for construction of those schools.

State Representative Al White is part of a Republican tradition of creating board of director positions for themselves and then funding the organization. In 2005 White was prime sponsor of a bill (HB05-1098) to add two seats to Colorado Tourism Office Board of Directors. He was quickly appointed to fill one of those seats. This year White is sponsor of House Bill 1201, which directs $19 million to a fund overseen by the board.

Republican Chairman Martinez claims that situations like this violate the state constitution and require an ethics investigation.