The secretary of state is facing increased criticism over controversial campaign rules she imposed this month that just so happened to benefit her party, the Republicans.
Everyone knows that election rulemaking must be scrupulously even-handed, but these decisions don’t meet the sniff test.
Secretary Gigi Dennis defends the substance and the intent of the rules, but since the initial questions were raised, the circumstances have grown even more murky. Lawyers who work for Republican organizations acknowledge they had a hand in convincing Dennis to make at least two of the rules changes.
Dennis ought to set the rules aside.
She told us Wednesday that the rules were not politically motivated. She and Deputy Secretary of State Bill Hobbs noted that of the two dozen rules enacted this month, criticism has focused on just three.
Both of the candidates running to succeed Dennis as secretary of state said Wednesday the new rules were imposed too close to the Nov. 7 elections and should be deferred.
Dennis countered that neither candidate attended the public hearing on the rules and s. She added that “at this point they have no experience being secretary of state.”
Perhaps not, but the candidates are among the most experienced elected officials in Colorado. (Dennis herself was appointed to her post by Republican Gov. Bill Owens and chose not to run in November.)
Republican Mike Coffman told us he believes Dennis exceeded her authority with one rule that requires members of dues-paying organizations, such as unions, to give written permission for their dues to be used for a specific political purpose. “Quite frankly, I wouldn’t have done it because this is an issue the legislature has debated and has voted (no) on,” said Coffman, who currently is state treasurer and who has served in both the House and Senate. “It’s really a policy question that needs to go back to the General Assembly. I don’t see it within the rulemaking authority of the secretary of state.”
Democratic candidate Ken Gordon, a veteran state senator, said the rules are without merit and believes they were politically motivated. “In this case Secretary of State Dennis took input from only Republican Party leaders and made partisan changes to the rules,” said Gordon.
Gordon said one of the rules was issued by Dennis exactly as it had been written by one of the GOP’s lawyers. He called on Dennis to defer the rules until after the election, when a new secretary can review them.
Dennis, and Hobbs believe Dennis did not overstep her bounds and they clarified to us that the rule will take effect at the time membership organizations send out annual renewal notices. In other words, it applies this year only to organizations who send out renewals after the rule was enacted in August. It wouldn’t apply to other organizations until next year, they said.
Details aside, it’s a rule that shouldn’t come out of the secretary of state’s office at all. The issue was raised in the legislature (where Republicans then had a majority), and defeated. How is it in the purview of the secretary of state to reverse the will of the elected legislature?
Because of the lack of clarity, the rules have put campaigns in a bind just weeks before the election as they try to ensure that union money hasn’t come from non-U.S. citizens (required by the second ule) and that members have given written consent to have dues used for a political purpose.
Dennis reiterated Wednesday that the rules apply to all membership organizations, not just unions, but of course everyone knows what is going on here.
Lawyer Scott Gessler, who does work for GOP gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez and his campaign, and attorney John Zakhem, who counsels both the GOP’s Trailhead Group political committee and the state Republican Party, told The Post last week they made in-person requests to Dennis for the rules changes.
“It was not my sole motivating factor to help Bob Beauprez, but was I conscious of it? Yes,” Gessler said. He feels that “the (current) rules are riddled with exceptions that help out Democratic constituencies.”
A lawsuit has been filed on behalf of unions, individuals and a Democratic state representative to stop the rules from taking effect. Sept. 7 is the date small-donor committees are required to file financial disclosures.
A third rule that has been criticized raised questions about whether volunteer campaign work was limited. Hobbs acknowledged that the wording is confusing. Here again, it seems to have been hustled into the rulebook late in the campaign and should be deferred and polished into better form.
The secretary of state should set aside the three disputed rules and concentrate the energies of her office on running a smooth and credible election. The imposition of these rules so late in the campaign raises fundamental questions of fairness, and the need for clarification is an unnecessary headache for all the organizations involved.
