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Hickenlooper Gets Another Extension on Filing Financial Disclosures

Former governor dropped out of presidential race same day disclosures were due

John Hickenlooper
John Hickenlooper / Getty Images
September 20, 2019

John Hickenlooper has requested and received an extension on filing his financial disclosures from the Senate Select Committee on Ethics, meaning his disclosures will not be due until Dec. 20, according to the committee's website.

"The report was originally due on September 21, 2019," the Senate website says.

Although Hickenlooper has shifted from the presidential race to Colorado's U.S. Senate contest, the former governor has now applied three times for extensions to file the required disclosures.

When requesting the second extension and while still in the presidential race, Hickenlooper's attorneys told the Office of Government Ethics, "both the Governor and his spouse have each experienced unusually frequent and extended travel during the weeks prior to the deadline, making it exceptionally difficult to compile the necessary information."

"In addition, the Governor has had to devote a considerable amount of time preparing for the Presidential debates, which will be held two days before the deadline," the request went on to say.

Hickenlooper dropped out of the presidential contest on the day his financial disclosures were due to the federal Office of Government Ethics. He was able to run for president 164 days without filing the disclosures.

This lack of transparency is not new for Hickenlooper.

When running for reelection for governor in 2014, Hickenlooper released 27 years of tax records, "but only the two- to three-page summaries for each year," the Denver Post reported. His Republican opponent released eight years of tax returns in full.

Hickenlooper has also faced scrutiny over how he has represented some of his charitable giving.

For example, the former governor once cut a $52,486 check to the IRS to settle a dispute over conservation easements he had claimed as charitable giving on land he owns in Park County, Colo.

"The value of those easements was later questioned by the Internal Revenue Service, and Hickenlooper paid $52,486 rather than dispute the finding," the Post said.

In many instances over the last decade, he has refused to identify some of the charities he has given to, arguing he "didn't want them politicized" and had "promised some of them anonymity," the Post also reported.

The Democratic nominee to the Senate race will face incumbent Republican Cory Gardner, who won the seat in 2014, the same year Hickenlooper was reelected as governor.

Some Republicans in the state are calling for immediate transparency from Hickenlooper.

"Hickenlooper needs to answer to voters," said Lindsey Singer, communications director for the Republican-oriented Colorado Rising PAC.

"What doesn't he want us to know about his financial records, and is this connected to the ongoing ethics investigation?" Singer added.

Hickenlooper is currently being investigated by the Colorado Independent Ethics Commission after a complaint alleged the governor had accepted free jet rides to some events in violation of the state's ethics laws.

A request for comment to the Hickenlooper campaign was not immediately returned.