New Colorado State Senate President Bill Cadman, R-Colorado Springs, presides over the Senate during the opening session of the 2015 Colorado Legislature. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)
Colorado lawmakers submitted their financial disclosure forms Friday, but just how much they must disclose is generating confusion.
One question, in particular, is open to interpretation. It is found on the third page of the required Personal Financial Disclosure Statement that lawmakers filed. It asks them to “list all offices, directorships and fiduciary relationships held by you, your spouse, or minor children residing with you.”
How does this work? Take, for example, new Senate President Bill Cadman’s form.
Cadman is a member of the board of directors for the American Legislative Exchange Council, a free-market, conservative-leaning political group. And itap far from a secret — Cadman , despite its controversial past.
But his role is not listed on his disclosure form. So we put the question to the secretary of state’s office — should it be disclosed?
First, the office responded that a plain-reading of the law does not differentiate between paid or unpaid positions, essentially suggesting that both need to be disclosed. This would have challenged most lawmakers’ perception of what they need to put on the form.
But days later, the interpretation evolved. Suzanne Staiert, the deputy secretary under Republican Scott Gessler, , said Cadman doesn’t have to disclose ALEC because he is not paid and holds no “fiduciary responsibility” on the board.
ALEC’s board, she understood, doesn’t select the organization’s executive director or set its budget. “Unless that person has some control over finances, personnel or operations … they don’t have the legal effect of an officer or director,” said Staiert, who is staying on board under incoming Republican Secretary Wayne Williams. (As a side note, Cadman’s political marketing firm did work for Williams campaign.)
If otherwise interpreted, Staiert said, lawmakers would need to disclose if their child was on student council. “Itap a financial disclosure form, not a conflict-of-interest form or a disclose-everything-you-do form,” she said.
For his part, Cadman isn’t taking the advice. On his form filed last week for 2015, he listed ALEC and his other positions on non-compensating boards, according to a Cadman spokesman.
(He did this in 2008 when he listed two other entities where he held board posts, Americans for American Energy and the Rocky Mountain Classical Academy Building Corp., and didn’t get paid. But he apparently didn’t do so on his more recent forms.)
How much of an issue this is for lawmakers, or candidates, is unclear. Staiert said it question on the form doesn’t produce many inquires, though Cadman’s actions may spur other lawmakers toward more disclosure.
Colorado Ethics Watch’s Luis Toro, a frequent critic Gessler on campaign disclosure issues, questioned the office’s interpretation. “Even if they have a leg to stand on legally … this Secretary of State has constantly fallen on the side of giving the public less information,” he said.
On a related note, the liberal group ProgressNow Colorado is trying to make Cadman’s ALEC ties and his campaign work a liability.
Following , ProgressNow’s Amy Runyon-Harms about his business and his ALEC work. to Cadman’s office questioning whether he violate the open meetings law.
A Cadman spokesman said the necessary information about Cadman’s business is disclosed in the required documents online with the secretary of state.
