DENVER -- Gov. Bill Ritter’s trade mission to Asia in November was funded, in part, by private businesses and that might have violated state ethics laws, a CALL7 investigation found.

Critics have questioned why Ritter would take a trip that cost $78,000 in state money while the state is facing an economic crisis, but records uncovered by 7News show that thousands of dollars in private money also went to offset some of the state employees’ travel expenses.

“You've got a number of groups spending a good deal of money essentially still buying access to our government,” said Jenny Flanagan, executive director of Colorado Common Cause, which pushed the ethics Amendment 41 in 2006. “And that's a problem.”

At issue is nearly $34,000 collected in sponsorships and participation fees from private businesses, other government agencies and non-profits. That moneypaid for part of the travel expenses for Ritter and the nine other state employees.

Amendment 41, which voters approved, banned gifts of more than $50 to state officials in an attempt to take the influence of money out of politics.

“They're buying that one hour lunch or in this case an 11-day trip,” Flanagan said. “That's the kind of access that most Coloradans just don't have.”

Before the trip, Ritter’s staff asked state’s Independent Ethics Commission whether the state travelers could accept the private money, and the commission issued a ruling setting up guidelines for accepting private cash.

The commission required that the private money pay only for official state business and that the companies that contribute the cash would not have had business or would not have business in the foreseeable future before the state employee.

“I think there are clearly ethical problems here, and the guidance from the Ethics Commission wasn't met in all respects,” Flanagan said.

Travel records show that about $3,600 in non-state contributions went to fund a trip to the Great Wall and the Forbidden City that Ritter and the rest of the delegation took during the 11-day trade mission.

“When the trip becomes travel for personal benefit -- a junket if you will -- rather than a business trip for the benefit of our state … that's the line we want to be careful not to cross,” Flanagan said.

Flanagan said it would have been appropriate for Ritter and the other state employees to pay for the sightseeing at the Great Wall and Forbidden City out of their own pockets.

State officials said that they could not set up meetings on the Saturday and Sunday of the trip because there was a Chinese holiday that weekend.

While state officials started planning the trip in the Spring of 2008, the officials said they only realized the trip would fall on a Chinese holiday weeks before they left.

Ritter defended the spending of public dollars as well as taking the private contributions, which he said did not violate state ethics laws and saved taxpayers money.

“Sponsorship dollars contributed $3,400 per state employee,” CALL7 Investigator Tony Kovaleski said. “Why is that not a violation of Amendment 41?”

Ritter said: "It has to do with the fact that the benefits coming to the state doesn't come to me as an individual. It's not a gift that was contemplated by (Amendment) 41.”

Ritter’s staff has also argued that since several dozen people and companies contributed money for the Great Wall and Forbidden City trip, that no one entity contributed more than $50.

Also at issue is free access to the American Airlines Admirals Club that Ritter and some staffers accepted on two occasions during the mission. An email obtained by 7News shows American Airlines offered the free entry to Ritter and other state employees.

A day pass is $50 plus tax and if the state employees used the luxury lounge on more than one day, the gift was worth more than double the $50 gift limit from one entity in a calendar year.

At first a Ritter attorney argued that the Admirals Club access was included in the business-class tickets that Ritter and two other staff members purchased with state funds. However, records show, state officials flew business class on ANA Airlines and flew economy on the American Airlines leg of the trip so the American Airline's Admirals Club would not be included in economy-class tickets.

Ritter spokesman Evan Dreyer said state attorneys are reviewing whether the Admirals Club access violated Amendment 41 and if so the state employees who used the club will pay for the day passes.