Secretary of State Mike Coffman said Wednesday that he won’t step down from his position to free up more time to campaign for Congress.
“I will serve as the secretary of state all the way to January of 2009,” Coffman said.
But if he loses his bid for the 6th Congressional District seat, Coffman is not as adamant that he will finish his four-year term as secretary.
“I think it’s fair to say that I plan to at this time,” said the Republican, who was elected to the post last year.
Coffman’s vow to remain in office through the 2008 election, however, did little to appease GOP chairman Dick Wadhams, who reiterated his disappointment with Coffman’s decision to run for Congress. If Coffman wins the seat, Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter can appoint a replacement.
“If the office is not important, why did he run for it to begin with?” Wadhams said. “I remain concerned about turning this office over to Bill Ritter and his political appointee.”
Coffman said that only a “handful of people at the top” are worried about his congressional run and the possibility of Ritter appointing a Democrat as secretary. “To rank-and-file Republicans who vote in the primary, this is all inside baseball,” he said. “The secretary of state is supposed to be nonpartisan.”
The 6th Congressional District seat, being vacated by Tom Tancredo, is considered safe for Republicans. The winner of the GOP primary is expected to win the district.
When Coffman announced that he was running for the seat, speculation immediately surfaced that he would resign as secretary. Coffman is bound by the the same ethical rules as state legislators, which makes it harder to raise money while in office. Additionally, he will be forced to campaign primarily on weekends.
Other Republicans running for the seat include Wil Armstrong, a mortgage banker and son of former Sen. Bill Armstrong, and state Sens. Ted Harvey of Highlands Ranch and Steve Ward of Littleton.
