Court Battle Over Colorado Open Records Law
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Outgoing Colorado Securities Commissioner Gerald Rome will be in a Denver courtroom Monday, December 17th, facing a lawsuit by the Houston-based investigative media firm Dolcefino Consulting.
Dolcefino Consulting filed the lawsuit after Rome and Colorado government lawyers refused to release records detailing the dismal effort to collect money for fraud victims, until we told them who we were asking on behalf of. We refused because the law protects requests under the Colorado Open Records Act.
Our investigation involved no active cases, just old ones, but it would eventually prove Rome’s office misled Colorado taxpayers on the success of the Securities Division’s efforts.
Rome had bragged about successful efforts to collect money for fraud victims, but the records we fought for more than a year to get confirmed less than three percent of defrauded money was ever returned.
“The conduct of Gerald Rome and his protectors at the Colorado Attorney General’s office has been arrogant and deceptive, and what happens in court is extremely important to Coloradans’ right to know,” says Wayne Dolcefino, President of Dolcefino Consulting.
The show cause hearing will be held in the District courtroom of Judge Martin Egelhoff.
“We hope to prove in court that records are destroyed, and that in some cases Rome and his AG friends denied records existed when they didn’t even bother to look for them. Most importantly we will ask the judge to send a message that the public right to know cannot be tampered with,” says Dolcefino.
Following the court hearing, Wayne Dolcefino and his attorneys will be available to reporters. Dolcefino Consulting is represented by Dallas attorneys Michael Hurst and Julie Pettit.
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