Did it prick your civic conscience when you learned that Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper hosted a meeting of the Democratic Governors Association in Aspen? Was it particularly galling to find out this meeting was primarily a subterfuge to assemble Democratic governors for a high-dollar fundraiser with the Aspen glitterati? And, did it further chafe that raw spot beneath your saddle when you discovered the Governor and several of his staff received free meals, free rooms and free stuff? If so, you were likely tickled when Compass Colorado filed a complaint against the Governor’s flagrant partying with Colorado’s Independent Ethics Commission. Who would have thought that a Democratic Governor with his gaze occasionally glancing towards Washington would attempt to burnish his political credentials with his fellow Democrats?

The Governor’s lawyers have asked the Commission to dismiss this complaint as frivolous, but its members find themselves squirming to reconcile a peremptory dismissal of these charges with their previous finding of ethical lapses against Secretary of State, and potential Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott Gessler. Colorado Ethics Watch filed a similar complaint against Gessler for his attendance at a Republican election law conference in 2012 that coincided with the Republican National Convention meeting in Tampa. Invited to the meeting as a speaker, Gessler paid these travel expenses from his discretionary state expense account. Because of a death threat to his family reported to Denver police and judged as credible, Gessler hastily returned home. After voluntarily reimbursing the state for his travel, less than $2,000 remained in dispute – not exactly a felony theft case or flagrant corruption. But, operating rather like the Spanish Inquisition’s infamous Star Chambers, the Ethics Commission determined Gessler had consciously, knowingly and unethically indulged in personal enrichment at taxpayer expense. This finding is on appeal and seems certain to be overturned by a judge who examines the facts of the case.

Before you cheer the complaint filed against the Governor, however, it might prove enlightening to examine the origins and premises behind the creation of Colorado’s Independent Ethics Commission. Approved by voters as Amendment 41 to the Colorado Constitution and sponsored by Common Cause and then State School Board member Jared Polis, it was sold as a necessary curb on the behavioral excesses of our public employees and elected officials. The record demonstrates that Colorado has enjoyed a remarkably graft-free record for at least half a century. And, when crimes have been committed, as in the recent Adams County paving imbroglio, District Attorney Don Quick had no trouble dispatching the villains into state custody under existing law. The Ethics Commission, by contrast, has found itself dealing with trivial charges designed only to stain the reputation of the ambitious, the competent and the outspoken. Terrific! And the amendment’s author, now U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, who wanted to flaunt his deep thoughts about honest government, has ironically joined our Congressional delegation – a group that Mark Twain identified more than a century ago as America’s only indigenous “criminal class.” His Commission lives on as an indictment of democracy that undermines voter confidence in the electoral process.

It is reported that the Independent Ethics Commission, where three of the five members have previously donated to Governor Hickenlooper’s political campaigns, is attempting to parse a distinction between the privileges of a “host” with those of a mere “speaker” before announcing its ruling on April 14. You needn’t be a trained jurist to see that any difference is merely superficial – that these cases are functionally equivalent. Is it appropriate for a partisan elected official to attend partisan events where the participants hatch partisan strategies for the execution of their political responsibilities? The question answers itself. As the President has been quick to point out, elections have consequences. Democratic officeholders will collude with Democrats and Republicans with Republicans. That’s what we expect them to do. That’s why we elect them!

A few weeks ago Republican State Rep. Amy Stephens of Colorado Springs introduced a bill that would have helped rationalize Ethics Commission proceedings, or, at the very least, provided legal help to those who have to defend themselves. It was ignominiously killed on a party line vote by Democrats who should have known better. Reportedly Democratic members were hopeful the ruling against the Secretary of State, and possible gubernatorial candidate, could be used to flog him during any campaign. It seems more likely that the Commission will continue to be hijacked for private or partisan agendas. Why couldn’t it be an ethical violation to drive a Hummer rather than a hybrid, or to frack without your neighbor’s permission (see Polis, Jared), to smoke legal marijuana or spank your kids? Only your Independent Ethics Commission has those answers.

The ethical thing to do is to ask voters to take this rapid dog out behind the barn and place a bullet in its brain.

Columnist Miller Hudson is a public affairs consultant and former state representative from north Denver in the late 1970s.