Pueblo City Council dismisses ethics complaints against Gradisar, Graham

Pueblo City Council voted to dismiss ethics complaints against Mayor Nick Gradisar and council President Heather Graham during a meeting on Monday, Oct. 23.

The complaints were dismissed weeks before the Nov. 7 election, in which both Gradisar and Graham are candidates for mayor. Gradisar had a single complaint, filed by Pueblo County Republican Party chairwoman Michelle Gray, dismissed on Monday.

Two complaints against Graham, one filed by Jeanne Gardner and another filed by Glenn Parker, were also dismissed.

What were the complaints?

Gray's complaint against Gradisar was in connection to a Sept. 9 town hall event hosted by councilman Vicente Martinez Ortega, which Gray alleged was actually a campaign event. Gradisar's Office paid $225 for refreshments at the event.

"Mayor Gradisar, knowingly, and unethically provided taxpayer monies and provided $225 refreshments for those who attended this alleged town hall," Gray's complaint stated. "Mayor Gradisar mixed taxpayer dollars with campaign dollars for the benefit of his reelection bid."

Both complaints against Graham are related to a March 15, 2023, email Graham sent to Pueblo Community College President Patty Erjavec. In her email, Graham addressed comments in a previous email sent from Martha Simmons, executive director of the PCC Foundation, to members of council.

Simmons' email was a public commentary on a March 4 city council retreat. Simmons had attended the meeting, not as a representative of the PCC Foundation but as a member of the public, according to the complaints filed by Gardner and Parker.

In Graham's subsequent email to Erjavec, she referred to Simmons' public commentary as a "nasty email," making "clear personal attacks" toward Graham and other members of council.

"(Simmons) refers to us as being 'Punch Drunk Crazy' with our (American Rescue Plan Act) spending. I find this comment very disrespectful and disheartening because this very council that sits up here today is the same council that funded PCC in the neighborhood of $400,000 with ARPA money last year for new programming," Graham said in her email to Erjavec.

Complaints by Gardner and Parker expressed concern about Graham's contacting of an employer about statements made by a private citizen and how it may discourage other private citizens from sharing opinions with council.

"If council members continue to act in this way, would not private citizens hesitate to submit a communication in fear of retribution via reprimand or termination by their employer," Gardner's complaint said.

Complaints did not violate ethics code, according to city attorney

Prior to the Oct. 23 meeting, city attorney George Hypolite detailed his legal opinions about the complaints against Graham and Gradisar.

Due to attorney-client privilege, legal opinions were not made public. However, Hypolite did indicate at the meeting he felt neither complaint met the standard for a city ethics code violation.

Council voted unanimously to dismiss Gray's complaint against Gradisar in accordance with Hypolite's legal opinion. A previous complaint against Martinez Ortega, also filed by Gray about the same town hall event, was also dismissed at an Oct. 10 meeting.

"The city's ethics code is very specific: it pretty much only creates ethical complaints where a city official or a city employee has a financial interest or votes towards another third party's financial interests... there is no city ordinance or rule that would prevent a campaign from sponsoring a city event,” Hypolite told council on Oct. 10.

Both complaints against Graham were dismissed in a 5-1 vote. Lori Winner was the only council member to vote against dismissing the complaints against Graham.

"Just because a citizen gives an opinion that you are offended by, does not give you the right to contact their boss and try to cause dismissal, disciplinary actions, etc.," Winner told the Chieftain on Oct. 24. "This kind of behavior does not encourage citizen participation in their government."

A 'political ploy' and a 'MAGA effort'

Both Gradisar and Graham told the Chieftain they felt the recent complaints against them were attempts to discredit them as mayoral candidates.

Graham said the complaints against her were "definitely a political ploy" that referenced an incident that happened in March, weeks before the November mayoral election. She also said she did not have regrets about emailing Erjavec.

Gradisar said the complaint against him was a "MAGA effort" to "create chaos" before the election.

"There's some people that are not going to be happy until they can create the kind of chaos in municipal government that they've created in Washington, D.C... They don't have any positive policies. All they know how to do is create chaos and that's what they're good at," he said.

More local politics: Forging Pueblo: How a local conservative Christian group is shaping Pueblo politics

Pueblo Chieftain reporter James Bartolo can be reached at JBartolo@gannett.com. Support local news, subscribe to The Pueblo Chieftain at subscribe.chieftain.com.

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Ethics complaints against Pueblo mayor, council president dismissed