Colorado lawmakers would no longer be able to accept cash donations to run their offices under a bill initially approved Monday by the state Senate.
But they’d still be able to make an emergency phone call from a friend’s house.
Senate Bill 51 – approved on a 22-13 vote in the Senate – would prohibit lawmakers from taking cash and almost all gifts.
Some lawmakers worried that they’d no longer be able to use a friend’s telephone, but the bill would allow lawmakers to accept such “gifts” as long as the total value of all gifts did not exceed $50 in a single year.
“All cash gifts are out,” said Sen. Ron Tupa, D-Boulder, the bill’s sponsor and a longtime advocate for getting rid of office accounts. “They’re a thing of the past. We’ve closed the loophole.”
For now. The bill must still survive a final vote in the Senate and then a review by the House.
“This bill really went through the wringer today, so it would be surprising if anybody who voted ‘yes’ today changed tomorrow,” Tupa said.
Some lawmakers – Democrats and Republicans – rely on cash gifts to cover office expenses, such as hiring aides or sending mailings to constituents, because the state provides little funding for such costs.
Current law requires lawmakers to report office-account gifts each January. This year’s annual filings created a stir when 10 Democratic lawmakers listed mailings and surveys from Research and Democracy, an anonymous group. The total value was $83,000.
This bill addresses gifts lawmakers knowingly accept. Several Democrats had claimed they were unaware that Research and Democracy was conducting surveys and mailings on their behalf.
Several Republicans tried to amend the bill Monday so that elected officials could accept gifts as long as they disclosed that information. A key Republican amendment required disclosure four times a year.
“The voters in this state are not idiots,” said Sen. Jim Dyer, R-Centennial. “They understand when you’re getting money from a certain source, there may be a nexus between that and the policy they support.”
According to Dyer’s annual disclosure, he accepted tickets to a Denver Broncos game that he valued at $70. His filing says the gift was “not lobby related,” but he didn’t disclose the name of the contributor.
Tupa wrote “none taken” across his gift-disclosure form.
Disclosure is not the best response to the issue, said Pete Maysmith, executive director of Colorado Common Cause, a nonprofit group that advocates stronger campaign finance rules. Maysmith said the state should provide more money to help lawmakers cover the costs of running their office.
“Let’s fund it the right way,” he said.
