Asks Legislature to Open Inquiry into Secretary’s Refusal to Act

DENVER – Colorado Citizens for Ethics in Government (CCEG), a nonprofit legal watchdog group, sent a second letter today to Secretary of State Gigi Dennis requesting that she exercise her authority and investigate a series of questionable contributions made to gubernatorial candidate Rep. Bob Beauprez.

On August 21, 2006, CCEG sent a letter to the Secretary’s office detailing how Rep. Beauprez’s candidate committee has received contributions from individuals who are funneling contributions through limited liability companies (LLCs) to evade the individual contribution limit of $1,000.

In response, Secretary Dennis’ office sent a letter to CCEG stating, “The Secretary of State does not have the authority under campaign finance laws to conduct investigations.” In fact, according to Rule 6.1 of the Secretary of State’s Rules Concerning Campaign and Political Finance, the Secretary is actually required to conduct such investigations when she “discovers a possible violation.”

“Secretary Dennis’ refusal to investigate the Beauprez campaign, despite obvious authority to do so, suggests that she is placing her political agenda above her responsibilities to the State,” said Chantell Taylor, Director of CCEG. “This is the not the first time she has placed party priorities ahead of her responsibilities.” Taylor noted that last week, several unions and a state representative filed a complaint against Secretary Dennis for promulgating rules requiring membership groups, including unions, to gain the written consent of members before transferring dues to political committees, alleging that the rule change was advantageous to Republicans.

“The Beauprez campaign has improperly accepted campaign contributions from individuals using LLCs to evade contribution limits,” said Taylor. “Secretary Dennis is refusing to do the job she was elected to do -- enforce campaign finance laws by investigating and penalizing those who violate them. ”

As a result of Secretary Dennis’ refusal to recognize her authority to investigate and her pattern of partisan decision making, CCEG also called on the Colorado House State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee, which has legislative oversight of the Secretary of State, to investigate Secretary Dennis’ activities.

The letters and supporting material are available on CCEG’s website

Colorado Citizens for Ethics in Government (CCEG) is a non-profit, legal watchdog group dedicated to holding public officials in Colorado accountable for their actions. For more information, please visit www.coloradoforethics.org.