DENVER—A Colorado ethics commission has cleared Republican Rep. Mike Coffman of wrongdoing in two conflict-of-interest complaints filed while he was secretary of state.
The state Independent Ethics Commission concluded Tuesday that Coffman did not overlook the actions of an employee in the state elections office who wrongly operated a political side business.
The commission also ruled Coffman did not violate ethics rules when his office granted a voting machine contract to a company that used a political consulting firm in common with Coffman.
“This is a complete vindication,” said Coffman’s lawyer, Doug Friednash. Coffman repeatedly denied wrongdoing and said the ethics complaint was a partisan attack intended to hurt his chances of being elected to Congress.
The complaints were filed last year by Colorado Ethics Watch, which argued Coffman should have known the employee was wrongly working as a political consultant. The complaints also alleged that Coffman’s office violated ethics guidelines by awarding a voting machine contract to a firm that used a consultant also used by Coffman’s congressional campaign.
Coffman was elected to Congress from a suburban Denver district last year and then resigned as secretary of state. The secretary of state’s office oversees state elections, among other things.
In an 18-page ruling, the commission said there wasn’t enough evidence to show Coffman knew or should have known that one of his employees was wrongly running a Republican consulting business.
Ethics Watch argued that Coffman should have seen e-mails to his office from the employee’s consulting firm, but Coffman testified last month that he didn’t notice ads on the e-mails mentioning the business.
The watchdog group also argued that Coffman had improper contact with a consulting firm used by Diebold Election Systems, now called Premier Election Systems & Software. Coffman’s office last year certified Diebold machines for the 2008 Colorado elections.
Both Coffman and Diebold employed a political consulting firm called Phase Line Inc. However, the ethics commission said there was no proof of improper contact among Coffman, Diebold and Phase Line.
Ethics Watch Director Chantell Taylor said the group stands by its allegations. She blasted the ethics commission for not using its power to subpoena to investigate conflict-of-interest claims itself.
“They’re saying nothing short of a smoking gun … will ever result in any type of sanction from the commission, and that’s unacceptable,” Taylor said.
The five-member ethics panel was set up by Colorado voters in 2006. Two commissioners recused themselves from the Coffman complaint because they formerly worked with the congressman.
Coffman has repeatedly questioned Ethics Watch’s motives, and after the ruling Tuesday he blasted the group.
“They had not a shred of evidence to support these outrageous lies,” Coffman said in a statement. “No one should ever take Ethics Watch seriously again.”
In papers to the commission, Ethics Watch asked for a ruling that it was not a partisan attack group. The commission didn’t address that in its ruling.
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