The Colorado commission responsible for disciplining state judges on Monday revealed it had quietly dismissed an elaborate, voluminous and far-reaching anonymous complaint that alleged an ongoing judicial conspiracy to conceal years of misconduct.

That decision came months after the former director of the Commission on Judicial Discipline said he had asked federal investigators to dive into a long-running scandal that erupted in 2019 with a purported contract-for-silence that reached the Colorado Supreme Court.

The revelations came from commission members during a state Senate Judiciary Committee hearing to confirm the gubernatorial reappointments of the top two members of the Commission on Judicial Discipline, a normally routine process that uncharacteristically ended with a suspended vote pending additional information.

Though no reason was given for why the complaint was dismissed, commission rules mandate dismissal when allegations are determined not to be credible or fall outside the authority of the commission, such as a judge’s decision.

The seven-member legislative committee chose to put off a vote largely tethered to testimony from former commission director Christopher Gregory, who pressed legislators to instead draft a resolution calling for the federal investigation he had requested years ago.

“I’d like to reinforce my colleague’s request to lay this over for additional time to understand what is apparently a very significant issue,” said Sen. Lisa Frizell, a Douglas County Republican, noting an earlier request from Sen. John Carson, a Lone Tree Republican, to do the same.

At issue are the reappointments of Mindy Sooter and Jim Carpenter, the chair and vice-chair, respectively, of the 10-member discipline commission. Sooter is an attorney appointee and Carpenter a citizen who is not an attorney or judge.

Urging the senators to reject the reappointments — an unusual occurrence for political appointees to a state board or commission — Gregory warned of “a scheme of ongoing public corruption and public fraud” that’s percolated since the scandal began. It erupted in early 2021 with allegations that it was then-Chief Justice Nathan “Ben” Coats who approved the contract-for-silence.

Part of that scheme, according to Gregory, includes the public silence around a voluminous anonymous complaint filed in October with three state commissions and the FBI alleging a far-reaching conspiracy designed to conceal years of alleged lying, retaliation and misuse of public funds.

The commission has not made any public statement about the allegations in the 330-page complaint, which included an additional 3,100 pages of exhibits, until Monday.

Sen. Julie Gonzales, D-Denver, said she read “the entirety” of the complaint — “Yes, I am that person,” she joked to the committee — and it left her “deeply troubled.”

Gregory told senators Monday that while in his commission job he contacted the public integrity section of the U.S. Department of Justice and offered cooperation for an investigation into the commission and Colorado Judicial Department, which he described as replete with conflicts of interest.

Gregory told senators he was referred back to DOJ’s Denver office, which he said should not have been involved because a senior member of its civil division, Kevin Traskos, is married to Colorado Supreme Court Justice Melissa Hart.

Instead, Gregory testified, he was “ghosted” by Denver’s DOJ office.

A strong proponent for changes to the state’s system of discipling judges, Gregory said he was fired in January 2024 as retaliation “for having the integrity to faithfully perform the duties” of his post and “to pursue accountability for the most significant forms of judicial misconduct.”

Gregory was replaced in early 2024 by Sooter. Gregory’s testimony came during an unusual public comment against a political appointment, an annual process that normally slides through quietly and without much notice. Senators had to invoke a little-used rule that allowed for public comments.

Sitting before several senators who had previously worked with him in drafting alterations to the state’s discipline system — which culminated in November with voters’ passage of Proposition H to change the Colorado Constitution — Gregory said the anonymous complaint called for more changes that haven’t been addressed.

The scheme of silence “has not been seen (in Colorado) since the 1920s when the KKK took over the state and local government,” Gregory said. “In addition to alleging misconduct by the (Supreme Court) Justices, the (complaint) specifically alleges misconduct by members of the (discipline) commission … including both its chair … and its vice-chair.”

The commission previously had not responded to requests by The Denver Gazette for an update to how it’s handling the complaint. At the hearing Monday, commission director Anne Mangiardi said nothing was made public because the complaint was filed anonymously, which meant there was no one to let know what happened in a process that allows complainants to get updates.

“Now, despite his awareness of the allegations contained in the (complaint), Gov. Jared Polis has re-appointed” Sooter and Carpenter.

Gregory was the commission’s chairman when Polis in July 2021 chose not to reappoint him to a second term. The commission hired Gregory as its executive director later that year.

The anonymous complaint laid out how it believes officials, ranging from Colorado’s Supreme Court justices, the Attorney General’s Office and a litany of others within the Judicial Department, have allegedly misled and intentionally obstructed investigations into the scandal, while ensuring additional inquiries into other details that were uncovered went nowhere.

“There is substantial and reliable evidence that, for years, the Justices of the Colorado Supreme Court, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, and other public officials/employees have conspired to openly engage in a pattern of misusing public funds, public resources, and the authority of their positions to unlawfully conceal evidence of misconduct by judges, attorneys, and public officials/employees,” the complaint reads.

“This fraudulent conduct includes a pattern of intimidation, retaliation, and the misuse of public funds (in excess of $4 million since 2019) to negotiate general waivers/non-disclosure agreements intended to silence victims, whistleblowers, and, even, other public officials.”

Gonzales said the compliant “held up a mirror to me and to us as an institution” at opportunities to hold people accountable were missed.

“That’s disturbing,” she said.

Sooter said the judges mentioned in the vast complaint were told there was no pending complaint against them and that, after hours of review, the commission ultimately decided to dismiss it.

She also noted that allegations against her and others “were simply unfounded.”

She added that since Mangiardi’s arrival, the commission “has run smoothly, developed processes, eliminated our backlog, made the commission a body and organization where we are proud to work.”

The commission typically handled only a handful of complaints a year. Following newspaper stories about the contract and ensuing scandal, the number of complaints has risen dramatically each year since.

The scandal involved a multimillion dollar contract to former Judicial Department Chief of Staff Mindy Masias, who had been fired for financial irregularities. She threatened a tell-all sex-discrimination lawsuit and, according to high-ranking officials at the time, was given the contract for her silence. Coats approved the contract and was later sanctioned by the discipline commission, making him the highest ranking judge to ever be disciplined.

Subsequent investigations paid for by the Judicial Department determined there was no contract-for-silence and that Coats simply lost control of the department.

The Supreme Court has since limited a chief justice’s term, to be shared by the sitting justices who are also liaisons to other parts of the department.

The Senate committee has not scheduled when it will vote on Sooter’s and Carpenter’s appointments.

The legislative session is scheduled to end next week.