Coffman bungled voter data and staff oversight

DENVER – In response to an audit request submitted by Colorado Ethics Watch (Ethics Watch) in May, the Colorado State Auditor released a performance audit today that reveals pervasive noncompliance and mismanagement. Ethics Watch’s request asked the auditor to determine whether the secretary of state’s office was compliant with state and federal voter registration requirements and whether any employees in that office misused state resources to enrich themselves. The auditor’s office found several areas of noncompliance and concluded that Secretary of State Mike Coffman is responsible for the statutory violations of his employees.

Chantell Taylor, director of Ethics Watch, said today, “As we expected, the auditor found that Dan Kopelman violated state law by operating a partisan political side business while employed with the secretary of state’s office. But more significantly, the auditor’s report agreed with Ethics Watch that Secretary Coffman shares responsibility for these violations. Sec. Coffman was aware that employees had outside businesses and did nothing. Although Sec. Coffman attempted to address the issue after the fact by adopting an internal policy regarding partisan activities of employees, the auditor’s office said his policy was inadequate to correct the problem. Based on these findings, Sec. Coffman needs to be held accountable for his violations of state law. We urge District Attorney Mitch Morrissey to now pick up where the auditor left off.

The audit report also reveals that Sec. Coffman has grossly mismanaged staff, voter registration data, record keeping, cyber security, state and federal funds, and other vital duties of his office. Based on these findings, how can the public have any confidence that Sec. Coffman will manage his office competently and with integrity?”

Ethics Watch’s letter to the State Auditor and District Attorney Morrissey along with other supporting materials in the Kopelman case are available on Ethics Watch’s website.

Click here for the letter to Auditor Symanski.

Click here for the letter to District Attorney Morrissey.

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Ethics Watch 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 or contact Chantell Taylor at (303) 626-2100 /ctaylor@coloradoforethics.org.