Two teachers unions illegally contributed to the successful 2004 state Senate campaign of Bob Bacon, the Colorado Court of Appeals ruled Thursday.
Judge Sandra Rothenberg said the state constitution prohibits a labor organization from making contributions to a candidate’s committee, spending money expressly advocating a candidate’s election and making expenditures that are “coordinated” with a candidate.
Mark Grueskin, the attorney representing the Colorado Education Association and the Poudre Education Association, said the groups may appeal the ruling to the Colorado Supreme Court because there was no coordination between the Bacon campaign and his clients.
The Bacon campaign was targeting registered, undecided voters, while the CEA and PEA were leaving literature on “every single doorstep,” Grueskin said.
“There was total independence,” he said. “They weren’t working together.”
The court said the CEA and PEA received thousands of Bacon campaign fliers and numerous yard signs produced by the Bacon campaign that volunteers for the groups distributed.
Also, Bacon thanked the volunteers before two organized walks where the materials were handed out. And there was evidence that the CEA’s executive director had conversations with Bacon’s campaign manager.
“None of these activities, standing alone, may have been sufficient to constitute coordination,” Rothenberg said. “However, we conclude that these three activities, viewed together, constitute coordinated actions by the CEA, the PEA and the Bacon campaign.”
Staff writer Howard Pankratz can be reached at 303-820-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com.
