A campaign complaint filed Thursday alleges that Denver city resources were used improperly to promote a fundraiser being held by City Council President Albus Brooks.
At issue is set for March 10 that one of Brooks’ council aides posted on Facebook on a recent Friday during work hours, titled “Councilman Albus Brooks 39th Birthday Bash & Campaign Event.” Brooks, though, says the aide clocked out and was using personal time off to work for his 2019 re-election campaign, which has reported paying office staffers for tasks in past disclosures.
But the complaint, submitted to the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office by a Denver group called Strengthening Democracy Colorado, also alleges that it was improper to share the campaign event on and accounts. Those were embedded in feeds on . It also takes issue with retweeting a tweet about the event, commenting: “Count us in!”
Colorado’s Fair Campaign Practices Act bars state and local governments from making contributions to a campaign, including providing promotion or anything of value.
After the city account’s tweet about the event was questioned by several Twitter users, including a reporter, it was deleted. And since learning of the complaint, Brooks’ District 9 office has removed the social media feeds from its website because, he conceded, “that did blur the lines.”
But he took issue with the thrust of the complaint.
“Elected officials’ social media accounts are not considered city resources,” he said. “We use our accounts to discuss city issues, support candidates and promote our events.”
Strengthening Democracy Colorado’s complaint portrays those accounts as public, though, and Director Jason Legg argued public officials “owe us a higher standard of conduct.”
“We pay them to make decisions on our behalf about how our resources are deployed, and we fund a support staff and offices full of government attorneys to help them do so properly,” he said in the group’s statement. “This is the responsibility they asked us for by running for office, and fulfilling that responsibility is their job.”
The Secretary of State’s Office on Thursday forwarded the complaint to for assignment to an administrative law judge to weigh the claims, which would be eligible for sanctions if upheld.
Here is the campaign complaint: