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ColoradoJudges.org
The Masias Contract Affair
Mindy Masias was a high-ranking administrator in the Colorado judicial branch. She was terminated for financial misdealings and then given a two-million-dollar no-bid contract.
The judicial department's top administrator would later allege the contract was part of an effort to cover up allegations of judicial misconduct.
Years of investigations would follow. The Colorado Supreme Court would repeatedly be accused of obstructing them and would launch its own. Some allegations would be confirmed. The judicial department's investigators would argue that some were unfounded.
After everything was said and done, the Masias contract was clearly improper but the investigations left responsibility for it muddy. The final result also seemed to confirm widespread and continuing efforts by the judicial branch to cover up allegations of misconduct that are made against judges.
2019
2020
The Auditor reached these 2020 conclusions without the Judiciary revealing the existence of the now infamous Memo, which had been known to the justices since 2019
2021
Ethics Rule 2.10
A judge shall not make any public statement that might reasonably be expected to affect the outcome or impair the fairness of a matter pending or impending in any court
As a result of this apparent violation of judicial ethics, an ethics complaint was filed.
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Eventually, the complaint was dismissed without a hearing.
Colorado Supreme Court Justices publicly stated at the outset of the investigation into the Masias Contract Affair:
"The notion that former Chief Justice Coats and his counsel Andrew Rottman -- both dedicated public servants -- would ever authorize the use of state resources to silence a blackmailer is simply false."
By the time the Justices decided to release the Memo to investigators in 2021, the Justices had been keeping it secret from investigators for about 1.5 years.
"We [the Colorado Bar Association] urge the Colorado Judicial Department to be fully transparent and to take the necessary steps to redress these issues promptly, in order to maintain the public's faith in the administration of justice in Colorado."
February 11, 2021
The Constitution of Colorado assigns investigation of judge misconduct complaints to the Discipline Commission.
By assigning their own lawyers to investigate the allegations, the Justices replaced the Constitutional process with investigators they would control.
Reporting over the coming years would reveal that, at the same time, the Justices and their people were blocking the Constitutional investigators.
2022
2023
Chief Justice Nathan "Ben" Coats was Publicly Censured for his Role in the Masias Contract Affair.
Read the details here:
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