Joan Fitz-Gerald gave up her job as president of the Colorado Senate to devote full time to running in the 2nd Congressional District. Secretary of State Mike Coffman so far is planning to stay on the job as he runs in the 6th Congressional District.
Politically, Fitz-Gerald can afford to resign. Coffman can’t, even though it would be the better thing to do.
The Democrats don’t lose any numerical advantage with Fitz-Gerald gone. The ensuing vacancies all are filled with other Democrats.
But if Coffman were to resign as secretary of state, a Democrat would take over, giving the Democrats control of both houses of the legislature and every statewide constitutional office except attorney general.
Fitz-Gerald stepped down on Nov. 14. “I feel this decision is in the best interest of the Senate and my constituents,” she said. “By resigning, I am better able to give the Senate a full-time president, my district a full-time senator and the 2nd Congressional District a full-time candidate.
“It’s the responsible thing to do,” she said.
So does that make Mike Coffman irresponsible?
Looking at it from the perspective of the state Republican Party, it was irresponsible of Coffman even to consider running. If he were to win, Gov. Bill Ritter would appoint someone — a Democratic someone — to fill the job.
Republicans fret this would open the door to “voter shenanigans and loose voter requirements.” From their perspective, it would be even worse if Coffman were to emulate Fitz-Gerald and resign immediately, thus inviting Democratic looseness and shenanigans even before the 2008 presidential election.
The last Democrat to serve as Colorado secretary of state was George Baker, 1955-63. Only nine of the state’s 35 secretaries have been Democrats. Democratic state Sen. Ken Gordon almost broke the spell in 2006, but lost to Coffman by just 24,000 votes.
Coffman says the secretary of state is merely an administrator, a manager who has power only to implement laws passed by the legislature. There’s a bit of the bully pulpit involved, he concedes, but the state’s chief elections officer is obliged not to be overly partisan. And even if he were to be elected and resign, he points out, the state elections director he leaves behind still would be a Republican.
He thinks his fellow Republicans protest too much, but, thankfully, the pressure on him to bow out has “started to fade.”
Noble reasons aside, another reason it was smart for Fitz-Gerald to resign now is that legislators during the legislative session can’t accept money, including campaign donations, from lobbyists or the people who employ them. It’s not clear, Fitz-Gerald says, if that applies if the legislator is running for a seat outside the legislature, but better to be safe than suspect.
Coffman says the same restriction applies to other state officials, such as him, but he’s not worried because he’s not relying on lobbyist contributions. “In this race, I don’t see lobbyists as a major factor.”
He also believes he can handle the extra work of a presidential election year, even while he’s running. Coffman, a former legislator, says his work schedule is “much more flexible” than a legislator’s.
He dismisses criticism that he shouldn’t be supervising an election in which he’s a candidate. If that were a problem, he says, no secretary of state could run for re-election. There’s also the precedent of Mary Estill Buchanan, who narrowly lost to incumbent Sen. Gary Hart in 1980 and went on to complete her remaining two years as secretary of state.
“It really, truly is a nonpartisan position,” he insists.
Fred Brown (punditfwb@aol.com), retired Capitol Bureau chief for The Denver Post, is also a political analyst for 9News. His column appears twice a month.
