Ethics Watch Comments On . . .

Why Ethics Watch filed a complaint against the Lakewood Impound Initiative in September . . .

"Voters only know [the initiative] is about illegal immigration because of media reports, and we only know Hayes is the man behind the initiatives because of legal complaints. That's no way to run a government or to make laws."

The decision of Debra Johnson, Aurora's city clerk, not to require the Aurora Impound Initiative backers to register as an issue committee and disclose donations and expenditures . . .

"There is a frequent problem in this state where people charged with the responsibility to enforce campaign finance laws don't actually do it. Especially if they have aspirations for higher office and might be perceived as taking sides."

Concern that a new executive order by Governor Ritter requiring his cabinet members and senior staff to submit conflict of interest disclosure reports was overturning an order from the Owens administration . . .

"There was no penalty built into the Owens' order to punish non-compliance. So what could be done, at best, was that public exposure would bring the administration into compliance. We're glad the new order includes disclosure and we hope that going forward we'll see full compliance."

The effect of a preliminary injunction issued in response to a lawsuit by the Western Tradition Partnership challenging Longmont's campaign laws, thereby keeping the plaintiffs from having to abide by several of Longmont's campaign-reporting requirements until the suit is decided. . .

"The whole point of the lawsuit they filed is so that people won't trace where the money is coming from."

Help Us Expose Unethical Government . . .

Ethics Watch raises public awareness about government accountability, and exposes those who are misusing taxpayer resources. Tips from Coloradoans are integral to our work, as are individual donations from those who support our mission. Please consider supporting Ethics Watch with information or a donation or both, so that we can continue to research, identify and expose unethical behavior by our public officials.

Submit a tip here.
Make a donation here.

Ethics Watch Requests Federal Investigation of Douglas County School Board Candidate Meghann Silverthorn On October 19, Ethics Watch asked the federal Office of the Special Counsel (OSC) to investigate whether Meghann Silverthorn violated the Hatch Act by running a partisan political campaign for the Douglas County, Colorado School Board while employed by the Department of Defense, Defense Contract Management Agency. Although Douglas County School Board races are traditionally nonpartisan, Ms. Silverthorn injected partisan affiliation into the race by publicly touting her endorsement from the Douglas County Republican Party and by accepting direct contributions from the Douglas County Republican Party. In doing so, Ms. Silverthorn may have violated the Federal Hatch Act because, unlike the other candidates in the race, she is a federal employee. The Hatch Act prohibits employees of the federal government from running as a candidate for election to a partisan political office. According to longstanding OSC policy and practice, federal employees who inject partisanship into otherwise nonpartisan state elections violate the Hatch Act. The OSC has specifically found that advertising the endorsement of a political party and using a political party's resources to promote a campaign, indicate that the election is a partisan one. Read the complaint here. Read the Colorado Independent story here. Read the Denver Post story here. Ethics Watch Seeks Records Regarding Possible Government Contribution to Penry Campaign On October 5, Ethics Watch filed a Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) request with the Colorado Senate Minority Office (SMO), seeking records regarding the office's e-mail contact list. A Denver Post report raised suspicions that the Penry for Governor campaign may have received an e-mail list from the SMO, whose budget is paid for with government funds. Colorado law prohibits state resources from being used to promote candidates for public office. The Denver Post reported that nonpartisan state legislative employees received e-mails at their state government accounts from the Penry campaign. The Post report raised questions about how these employees ended up on a campaign e-mail list. While sending e-mails to such accounts is not illegal, section 1-45-117 of the Colorado Revised Statutes prohibits state agencies from making contributions to campaigns. Ethics Watch's CORA is intended to determine whether the SMO was the source of the e-mail list. On October 7, the SMO submitted a partial response to the CORA. Ethics Watch has submitted a letter to the SMO's counsel addressing questions raised in the SMO's response and has filed a follow-up CORA request. Read Ethics Watch's CORA and the SMO's response here. Read the Colorado Independent story here. Read the Denver Post stories here and here. Look for Ethics Watch senior counsel Luis Toro on Denver's new HuffPost! Anonymous Push Polls: Coming Soon to a Phone Near You? By Luis Toro, The Huffington Post, October 20, 2009 Where is the line between neutral telephone polling designed to gather information from voters, and a push poll designed to influence voters through carefully crafted, loaded questions? That's the interesting question the Longmont Election Committee is scheduled to consider at a public meeting on October 26. But if the advocacy organization Western Tradition Partnership has its way, the Election Committee won't be permitted to even consider the question -- and push polls might become a popular way to influence elections while staying underneath the radar of campaign finance disclosure laws. Read the full story here.		Ethics Watch Comments On . . . Why Ethics Watch filed a complaint against the Lakewood Impound Initiative in September . . . "Voters only know [the initiative] is about illegal immigration because of media reports, and we only know Hayes is the man behind the initiatives because of legal complaints. That's no way to run a government or to make laws." The decision of Debra Johnson, Aurora's city clerk, not to require the Aurora Impound Initiative backers to register as an issue committee and disclose donations and expenditures . . . "There is a frequent problem in this state where people charged with the responsibility to enforce campaign finance laws don't actually do it. Especially if they have aspirations for higher office and might be perceived as taking sides." Concern that a new executive order by Governor Ritter requiring his cabinet members and senior staff to submit conflict of interest disclosure reports was overturning an order from the Owens administration . . . "There was no penalty built into the Owens' order to punish non-compliance. So what could be done, at best, was that public exposure would bring the administration into compliance. We're glad the new order includes disclosure and we hope that going forward we'll see full compliance." The effect of a preliminary injunction issued in response to a lawsuit by the Western Tradition Partnership challenging Longmont's campaign laws, thereby keeping the plaintiffs from having to abide by several of Longmont's campaign-reporting requirements until the suit is decided. . . "The whole point of the lawsuit they filed is so that people won't trace where the money is coming from." Help Us Expose Unethical Government . . . Ethics Watch raises public awareness about government accountability, and exposes those who are misusing taxpayer resources. Tips from Coloradoans are integral to our work, as are individual donations from those who support our mission. Please consider supporting Ethics Watch with information or a donation or both, so that we can continue to research, identify and expose unethical behavior by our public officials. Submit a tip here. Make a donation here.


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