Candidate's fundraising under fire

Colorado Ethics Watch, a nonpartisan legal watchdog group, filed the campaign-finance complaint Wednesday with the Colorado Secretary of State's Office, saying Geddes' campaign hasn't filed two sets of contribution and expenditure reports that were due May 1 and June 2.

Geddes, a trauma surgeon from Sedalia, could face late fees exceeding $4,000, and critics question whether he's committed to CU's mission to be open and accountable to the public.

Geddes' campaign could not be reached for comment Thursday after repeated attempts.

Geddes is the lone GOP candidate for the Republican-heavy 6th Congressional District, which blankets Douglas, Arapahoe and Elbert counties. He will face Democrat AJ Clemmons.

CU Regent Paul Schauer, R-Centennial, last month said he wouldn't seek re-election -- an announcement that came amid complaints from conservatives that he was ideologically soft. Schauer, managing director of the Colorado Ready Mixed Concrete Association, has said he is not running to defend his seat because he's busy changing occupations.

Some observers speculate whether a stricter conservative on the already Republican-heavy board would give the GOP more power over highereducation in the state.

Split in conservative opinion

Schauer -- a moderate Republican who has been a swing vote on the CU board -- has been slammed by conservatives for not getting behind the creation of a Western civilization department that was pushed by his GOP colleagues.

Regent Tom Lucero, R-Johnstown, proposed that CU start Western civilization departments on its campuses in December 2006. The board voted unanimously to table the motion, and in January 2007, Lucero asked that it be scrapped, acknowledging shared governance among faculty members, administrators and the board. The Boulder campus offers a program that awards certificates, which are similar to minors, in Western civilization studies.

An outside conservative political organization called Coloradoans for Reform in Higher Education circulated fliers in 6th Congressional District neighborhoods this spring comparing Schauer with fired professor Ward Churchill, who ignited national furor with an essay he wrote comparing 9/11 victims with "little Eichmanns." The fliers said both Schauer and Churchill opposed Western civilization.

In an Arapahoe County debate, Geddes suggested the university shave off $1 million from its multi-million diversity budget to fund Western civilization.

Former state Senate President John Andrews, a Republican, gave a nominating speech backing Geddes at the GOP assembly in May, saying CU needs a true Republican majority with "one more reliable vote."

"Jim knows that the needed reforms in higher education will never be achieved by regents from our party who cater to the left-wing faculty and repeatedly vote with the Democrats, as some have done in the past," Andrews said.

Regent Lucero said he doesn't want to speculate how the board dynamics would change if Geddes is elected.

"There is oftentimes a difference between campaign politics and governing," Lucero said.

Campaign-finance complaint

Clemmons -- the Democrat running against Geddes in the regent race -- criticized her opponent Thursday for not following the most "basic" financial accountability measures while running to represent CU, which has a $2.4 billion budget.

"Coloradans deserve to know where he raises money and how he spends it," she said.

Clemmons, who does community relations for an agency that provides civilian oversight of the Denver police and sheriff departments, is running on a platform of higher-education affordability and preparing graduates for an increasingly globalized and competitive economy.

"I regret that it's a partisan race," she said. "I think that partisanship has no place in education."

The secretary of state, in a June 3 letter, notified the Geddes campaign that spending reports due May 1 and June 2 were overdue. Both reports face daily late fees of $50.

Campaign-finance records show that Geddes filed another report a month late, but the secretary of state granted his campaign's request to waive the $1,550 in fines that accumulated.

Rich Coolidge, a spokesman for the Secretary of State's Office, said the state constitution doesn't call for penalties other than the late fees.

Chantell Taylor, director of Colorado Ethics Watch, said she hopes the organization's complaint will compel Geddes to follow the campaign-finance laws.

"He filed his first required report 30 days late and has not filed one since," she said. "Dr. Geddes is scoffing at voters by hiding contributions and expenditures and flouting delinquent notices and disclosure requirements."