Attorney Wayne Vaden, left, addresses hearing officer William A. Hobbs on Friday morning at the start of a hearing on a finance complaint against Denver City Council candidate Sean Bradley. (Jon Murray, The Denver Post)
An investigative hearing into a campaign finance complaint against Denver runoff candidate Sean Bradley took place Friday over the objection of his attorney — and outside public view.
Denver City Council candidate Sean Bradley.
Bradley is running against Stacie Gilmore in Tuesday’s runoff for the City Council’s far-northeast District 11 seat. Gilmore’s campaign manager, Magen Elenz, on the day of the May 5 first-round election, alleging late filing of reports, unreported expenses, and missing disclosures on campaign signs and materials.
At the start of Friday’s 9 a.m. hearing, during an initial public session, Bradley attorney Wayne Vaden asked hearing officer William A. Hobbs for a continuance. He said that he and Bradley had not been able to review photos of campaign signs, fliers and other evidence that Elenz included with her complaint against Bradley.
Hobbs reviewed past e-mails from the Denver Elections Division regarding the complaint and said they indicated the attachments were sent to Bradley, but Vaden insisted that neither of them had seen the material.
After a 30-minute recess, the hearing began, but it was closed to the media and other observers. During the initial public session, Vaden had invoked an election rule requiring confidentiality for the evidentiary hearing if the targeted candidate requests it.
The hearing concluded Friday afternoon.
Hobbs in coming days or weeks will issue a report detailing whether he finds probable cause to believe Bradley violated campaign finance rules. If a hearing officer believes there were violations, the city attorney’s prosecution and code enforcement division can institute legal proceedings against a candidate. Election code holds out the the possibility of disqualification for office if a court finds that a violation occurred — but cases rarely, if ever, reach that point.
Earlier, Vaden, who served as Denver’s clerk and recorder through 2006, challenged the legal authority for Elections Director Amber McReynolds to sign the notices that were sent to Bradley about Elenz’s complaint, rather than elected Clerk and Recorder Debra Johnson. But Hobbs rejected that argument.
Last week, Bradley filed amended finance reports disclosing $1,250 in previously unreported expenses. His campaign said in a response to Elenz’s complaint that it had since pulled materials lacking required payment disclosures and that it considered the matter closed.
But Elenz and the Elections Division said Bradley didn’t correct or address all of the items in the complaint, prompting the appointment of Hobbs to investigate.
Below, watch of the District 11 candidates:
