Today, Secretary of State Bernie Buescher announced the adoption of revised campaign finance rules.  Included in the rules is new Rule 4.25, which prohibits committees from reporting lump sum payments to credit card companies instead of reporting expenditures made by credit card, and which clarifies reporting requirements regarding reimbursement payments to candidates or third parties.  Ethics Watch supported the rule change.

Today, Ethics Watch submitted to Secretary of State Bernie Buescher comments in support of a proposed campaign finance rule that would require campaigns to provide detailed disclosures of expenditures that were paid for by the candidate, third parties or by credit card and later reimbursed by the campaign. Secretary Buescher's proposed rule would end the practice of reporting only the reimbursement or credit card payment and not the underlying expenditure that was being reimbursed. If adopted, the new rule will increase transparency of campaign spending.

John Tomasic (The Colorado Independent) - Colorado Springs Gazette writer Eileen Welsome reported yesterday that non-resident professional petition circulators worked in Colorado last year to land three tax-slashing initiatives on the November ballot. Welsome tracked the circulators to controversial anti-government figure Doug Bruce. She wrote that they stayed in a house owned by Bruce and that they had worked for similar initiatives in Missouri, Oklahoma and Nebraska. As Colorado Ethics Watch Director Luis Toro told the Colorado Independent, the revelations “bode pretty well” for the plaintiff fighting the initiatives who have brought a lawsuit alleging the proponents violated state disclosure laws by failing to report donors.

We won’t be silenced.

The Colorado Attorney Regulation Counsel summarily dismissed former Sen. Andy McElhany’s complaint against Chantell Taylor, former director of Colorado Ethics Watch, last week. The attorney regulation counsel required no response from Ms. Taylor to make that determination.  

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled, in a 5-4 vote, that corporations have a First Amendment right to spend money on commercials to support or oppose candidates for public office. Ethics Watch Director Luis Toro said, "Today’s decision is a disaster for those who oppose excessive corporate influence on our elections. It would be naïve, however, for anyone involved in elections to interpret this ruling as the end of campaign finance regulation in Colorado. Eight Supreme Court justices agreed that corporations can be required to disclose their spending and include a disclaimer stating who is responsible for a campaign ad. Strong enforcement of these requirements is more important now than ever. At Ethics Watch, we remain committed to protecting Coloradans' right to know who is spending money to influence elections and to defending the system from the corrupting influence of special interests."

Ethics Watch today released its list of the Top Five Ethics Scandals of 2009 based on a busy year of watching, researching and litigating in many of these circumstances.

One of the benefits of creating the Colorado Independent Ethics Commission (IEC) as an independent commission, not subject to control by the governor or the legislature, is that the IEC is not bound by the governor's hiring freeze order. Today, the IEC welcomed its second full-time staff member, and his arrival is cause for hope that the IEC will be able to more effectively investigate complaints in the future.

Colorado Ethics Watch is pleased to announce that Luis Toro, its current senior counsel, will assume the role of director effective January 1, 2010. Ethics Watch’s current director, Chantell Taylor, has accepted the position of general counsel for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group and the Public Interest Network, a national network of public interest advocacy groups.

David O. Williams (The Colorado Independent) - Voters in Colorado care about clean elections and voted through a ballot initiative specifically to enact laws governing campaign finances in 2002. Lawbreakers have been caught and fined. But that’s apparently where enforcement ends. The list of groups violating the law includes an increasing number that simply skirt the fines judges have levied against them. Secretary of State Bernie Buescher now seems determined to go after the deadbeats, but his office told the Colorado Independent that the law, as it stands now, simply lacks teeth.

You might be surprised to learn that, at a time when the state cannot afford to squander a single resource, hundreds of thousands of dollars remain uncollected by the Colorado secretary of state's office for outstanding campaign finance penalties.

Jefferson Dodge (Boulder Weekly) - A regional right-wing advocacy group with connections to Republican political powers in Colorado has taken a keen interest in a hotly contested Longmont City Council race. It has funded, among other things, the controversial phone survey last month about Councilmember Karen Benker, which some have called a “push poll.”

David O. Williams (The Colorado Independent) - Thirty-nine states provided information requested by the New York Times as part of its series on Clean Water Act violations called “Toxic Waters: A series about the worsening pollution in American water and regulators’ response.” Colorado wasn’t one of them.

Today, Ethics Watch Director Chantell Taylor will testify at a hearing on proposed changes to the Campaign and Political Finance Rules to be held at the office of Secretary of State Bernie Buescher.  Ethics Watch also submitted written comments on the proposed rule changes.

Today, the Colorado Independent Ethics Commission (IEC) issued its first position statement interpreting the anti-revolving door provision of Amendment 41, which was approved by voters in 2006.  The IEC ruled that Amendment 41 prevents state legislators from serving as professional lobbyists or as "legislative liasons" hired by state agencies to lobby the legislature for two years after leaving office, but does not prevent former state legislators from becoming members of the governor's cabinet or serving in other public positions that have never been subject to professional lobbyist registration requirements.

Yesterday evening, the Colorado Springs Independent Ethics Commission ("CSIEC") submitted its confidential report and recommendation to City Council on the complaint filed by Ronald Johnson against Mayor Lionel Rivera, finding that no ethics violation occurred.  City Council then voted to release the report to the public.  In response, Ethics Watch Senior Counsel Luis Toro applauded the City Council's vote in favor of transparency, and called on City Council to change the CSIEC's rules of procedure so that future ethics reports will be available to the public without the need for a Council vote.

In honor of Colorado Day on August 1, Colorado Ethics Watch released a list of Top Ethics Scandals in Colorado History.  The list ranges from outrageous to outlandish, and is a valuable reminder of how a government that operates without public scrutiny or accountability can wield dangerous results.  

Brent Gardner-Smith (Aspen Daily News) - Pitkin County commissioners appear to have violated both county policy and state law this week when they convened a closed-door executive session.

At the invitation of the Denver Board of Ethics, Ethics Watch submitted today comments on a draft of the Board's proposed revisions to the Code of Ethics for Denver officers, officials and employees.

The Colorado Independent Ethics Commission ("IEC") today welcomed its newest member, Commissioner Dan Grossman (D-Denver).  Commissioner Grossman, a former state senator, was selected by the Colorado Senate to serve a four year term after Commissioner Sally Hopper completed her term on the IEC.