COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — The Colorado Springs City Council voted Tuesday to censure a fellow council member.
Dave Donelson was also stripped of his committee assignments a week after he questioned whether certain other council members would be influenced by campaign finance contributions from an apartment developer.
“The majority of us find his actions inappropriate and disingenuous,” Council member-at-large Brian Risley said.
Donelson, who represents residents in District 1 on the city’s northwest side, asked three councilmembers who accepted campaign finance donations from Weidner Property Management Group whether they could vote fairly on an apartment complex brought forth by Weidner last Tuesday.
City Council President Randy Helms quickly fired back, asking Donelson to stop his line of questioning before calling a meeting for the censure vote.
The following week, the 6-2 vote came down during the special council meeting stripping Donelson of his committee and Board positions and Censuring him, in a room filled with more than a dozen citizens packed the room with signs supporting Donelson.
Council Members Nancy Henjum, Lynette Crow-Iverson, Yolanda Avila and David Leinweber also made statements supporting the censure before the vote came down.
“Council member Donelson’s timing raises a question. After three years on council, why bring this up now?” Council Member Nancy Henjum questioned in her statement Tuesday. “… I am struggling to find any other reason for his sudden concern about donations than his surprise and anger at the lack of support from his fellow council members.”
Donelson’s comments came after his proposal to limit city building heights was struck down.
Friday, Helms told KRDO13 that he fully supported the meeting and was planning to vote toward the censure. On Tuesday, however, Helms appeared to have a change of heart and asked the rest of the council to vote against the censure and the stripping of Donelson’s board and committee positions.
“I was thinking through the censure and the removal would do nothing but split us. And I wanted to take the high road,” City Council president Randy Helms said. “You remember what I said. Let’s have a little grace. Let’s take the high road. However, I did believe that Councilmember Donelson violated the policies and procedures.”
KRDO13 Investigates also asked Helms what made him change his mind after he admitted during the meeting that he had not disclosed his lack of support for the vote he had called beforehand to any of his co-workers.
“I worked through this five or six days and came to the conclusion that we to be better off in not voting to censure or not removing him from the boards and commissions,” Helms said.
Henjum also questioned Donelson’s transparency, citing two city votes where he voted in favor of his campaign donors, and his relatively recent run for state office, when he did receive large donations from major developers.
KRDO13 Investigates asked Donelson about the funding for his state office run on Friday. He said the donations didn’t impact his vote since his state office would hold less power over developers than his city council position.
Many council members, despite today’s division over the matter, admitted there was a need for campaign finance reform.
“I think we need to think through the implications of reform and what that looks like,” Risley said.
Councilmember Michelle Talarico of District 3 echoed the sentiment, though she did not have specific ideas about what that campaign finance reform could look like yet.
“It’s important to our citizens. So I think for that reason alone, it’s on us to pass an ordinance somehow to do what we can,” Tallarico said.
“I support limits on donations to campaigns that would apply to everyone. I am concerned about the influence of so-called dark money,” Council Member Nancy Henjum said.
Donelson, however, has specific ideas about what needs to change the most. He says that the City’s website makes it difficult to track and access campaign finance donations.
“It’s hard to find the information — very hard,” Donelson said. “What I would like to have also is right below our little shiny faces, there [would be] one button and you click on it for campaign donations from the highest amount to the lowest amount.”
Donelson said he would meet with the city’s legal team to begin working on a new city ordinance mandating more transparency.
