About Colorado Ethics Watch
Colorado Ethics Watch uses high impact legal actions to hold public officials and organizations accountable for unethical activities that undermine the integrity of state and local government.
Sign up for Email Alerts
Current Projects and Reports
Ethics Headlines
-
Craig Daily Press, Mar 11, 2010
-
Craig Daily Press, Mar 11, 2010
-
Cortez Journal, Mar 9, 2010
-
The Colorado Independent, Mar 9, 2010
“Government can only be accountable if taxpayers can see what they are buying
and how much they are paying for it.”
Boulder clerk dismisses candidate's complaint against Camera
By Erica Meltzer, The Boulder Daily Camera,
September 23, 2009
In the complaint, council candidate Rob Smoke alleged that by printing the op-ed by Cowles and not printing one by him, the Camera essentially “donated” ad space to one candidate without declaring it as a campaign contribution.
In e-mails with Smoke, Camera editorial page editor Erika Stutzman said Smoke's submission did not meet the Camera's editorial guidelines. In contrast, the same guidelines required the Camera to give space to Cowles to respond to personal criticisms of him that appeared in the paper in response to the city's house-size debate.
Smoke contended Cowles' op-ed contained so much self-promotion that it was a de facto campaign ad.
In a decision released Tuesday, City Clerk Alisa Lewis said there was no probable cause to pursue the complaint. Running Cowles' op-ed did not constitute giving him a free ad, she found. Rather, running opinion pieces from a variety of people, including elected officials, is part of the “regular course and scope” of the newspaper's business.
Lewis also said there would be serious constitutional issues with the city dictating what a newspaper could and couldn't publish. For the full story, please visit http://www.dailycamera.com/boulder-county-news/ci_13401781
