Elected Member

David E. Skaggs

Denver, CO
Dentons US LLP
Education
Wesleyan University, BA Philosophy
Yale Law School, LLB

David Skaggs is a senior advisor at Dentons. Congressman Skaggs assists clients with governmental and legislative relations strategy at the state and federal levels.  He served twelve years in Congress as a US Representative from the 2nd Congressional District of Colorado (1987-99) and three terms in the Colorado House, the last two terms as Minority Leader (1981-87).

Congressman Skaggs is Co-Chair of the Board of the US House of Representatives’ Office of Congressional Ethics and an Emeritus Member of the US Public Interest Declassification Board. He also serves on the board of trustees of the National Endowment for Democracy, the American University of Iraq - Sulaimani, and the U. S. Association of Former Members of Congress. He has been an Adjunct Professor at the University of Colorado School of Law and in the Department of Political Science.

Prior to joining Dentons, Congressman Skaggs served in the cabinet of Colorado Governor Bill Ritter Jr. as Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Higher Education. After leaving Congress, he was Executive Director of the Center for Democracy & Citizenship at the Council for Excellence in Government.

In 2005, he co-chaired the War Powers Initiative, a bi-partisan project of the Constitution Project to re-examine the respective prerogatives and responsibilities of the three branches in addressing questions about the use of military force.  While serving as a US Representative, Congressman Skaggs served eight years on the House Appropriations Committee and six years on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. He was founding co-chair, with Illinois Congressman Ray LaHood, of the House Bipartisan Retreats. 

Congressman Skaggs was a member the Secretary of Energy’s Task Force on Nonproliferation Programs in Russia (the “Baker-Cutler Task Force”) in 1999-2000 and in 1999 served on the Secretary of State’s Overseas Presence Advisory Panel investigating security and other issues affecting the State Department’s posts abroad.

He is a Marine Corps veteran of the Vietnam War and attained the rank of Major in the Marine Corps Reserve.

 David E. Skaggs Image
Areas of Expertise
Ethics
Legislation (Government Law)
Constitutional Law
Education Law