With Clear the Bench brief, Sec of State Gessler draws more ethics scrutiny

Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler filed a brief with the attorney general last week supporting an appeal brought by election-politics group Clear the Bench in a campaign finance case. Gessler defended the group as a private attorney in the original case and so his support now as secretary of state is sure to raise more questions about his ability to serve the public without treading across ethical boundaries.

Stapleton business deal would raise new round of questions for Colorado treasurer

Weeks after Colorado Treasurer Walker Stapleton took office this past January he drew a flurry of questions about a lucrative consulting contract he made with SonomaWest Holdings, the Northern California real-estate firm he headed for years as CEO. Stapleton arranged to work for up to 250 hours per year with Sonoma for $150,000 while acting as Colorado’s treasurer. Colorado AOL reporter Sandra Fish discovered the arrangement by looking at paperwork SonomaWest had to file as a public company, and government watchdogs took comfort from the fact that those public records filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission or SEC would continue to provide some level of transparency. Now Stapleton’s family finance business, Denver-based Stapleton Acquisitions Company, is proposing to buy out shareholders of SonomaWest (pdf) and take the company private. That would mean no more filing with the SEC. It would mean no more public records from which to monitor Stapleton’s moonlighting as a consultant.

Government watchdog group files open records request on Gessler, Stapleton moonlighting

Nonprofit Colorado Ethics Watch filed a formal request Thursday seeking information on the moonlighting plans announced by recently sworn in Secretary of State Scott Gessler and State Treasurer Walker Stapleton. The Open Records request comes a week after revelations of the men’s plans sparked a steady stream of reports in the media on potential conflicts of interest, particularly surrounding the plan announced by Gessler, a high-profile partisan politics attorney, to work on a contract basis for his former firm. The Ethics Watch request will likely seek emails passed between the officeholders and advisers, including attorney general’s office staff.

Secretary of State Gessler’s plan to moonlight as private attorney sounds ethics alarms

Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler is no stranger to political controversy. He has represented a long line of conservative advocacy and attack groups and in that role has become the public face of partisan causes. Indeed, his name and the law firm he founded virtually stand for a branch of Colorado politics that seeks to limit government restrictions on and oversight of campaign financing. He has done battle repeatedly with laws the secretary of state is charged to enforce and now he is secretary of state. His election victory put government watchdog groups on high alert. News coming today, a little more than a week since he was sworn into office, that Gessler plans to keep working part-time as an attorney for his former firm even while serving as secretary of state has set conflict-of-interest alarm bells ringing in watchdog offices.

Government watchdog group Ethics Watch ranks top Colorado scandals of 2010

Nonprofit watchdog group Colorado Ethics Watch on Tuesday brought out a list reviewing five of the most glaring high-profile breaches of public trust in Colorado in 2010. Ethics Watch is often described (or dismissed) as “left-leaning,” and it’s true that its list this year spotlights the actions of four well-known Republican political figures. But it’s also true that the names of three of the four men included on the list– Doug Bruce, Dan Maes and Scott McInnis– now mostly induce chortles and head shaking on the left and right in political circles across the nation.

“We were trying to pick [instances] where there was no redeeming side. These were cases where there was no way to give a positive spin,” Director Luis Toro told the Colorado Independent.

Lawmakers Carroll, Court eye tougher campaign finance, ethics laws next session

Democratic state Sens. Morgan Carroll of Aurora and Lois Court of Denver say stricter penalties and tighter legal definitions should be at the heart of upcoming legislation to prevent abuses to laws regulating those looking to sway public opinion in elections. Both legislators are working with watchdog groups to shore up what they see as serious holes in campaign finance and ethics laws after a mid-term election cycle marred by violations and rumors of clandestine deals.

Western Tradition director: lawmakers Carroll, Schwartz trying to ‘silence dissent’

The head of a conservative nonprofit blasted by Democrats for “tasteless” and possibly illegal mailers targeting state Sen. Gail Schwartz in last month’s election told The Colorado Independent (TCI) Tuesday that “we engaged in no electioneering or 527 activity and always follow the law.” Donald Ferguson, executive director of Western Tradition Partnership (WTP), clarified that the mailers featuring Schwartz’s face on Donald Trump’s body with the tagline “You’re Fired!” were paid for by the registered 501(c)4 “social welfare” nonprofit, not an associated 527 group called Western Tradition Partnership Education Fund.

SOS-elect Gessler dubbed ‘real activist in support of voter suppression’

Progressive election reform advocates and campaign watchdog groups are leery of Republican attorney Scott Gessler’s agenda as Colorado’s secretary of state elect. Observers cite a variety of reasons to be concerned about what changes he’ll try to make over the next few years. “It’s clear that there was an effort to put somebody into this seat who is going to be a real activist in support of corporate secret funding of elections and voter suppression,” Luis Toro, director of Colorado Ethics Watch, told the Colorado Independent.

Schwartz, Ethics Watch eye SOS complaint for mailers from group linked to Gessler

State Sen. Gail Schwartz and a campaign watchdog group are weighing a formal complaint against a 527 political group linked to Secretary of State-elect Scott Gessler, alleging the group failed to properly disclose a mailer deemed the “most tasteless” of this month’s election. Schwartz, a Democrat, said late last week she still hasn’t determined whether to file a formal complaint with current Secretary of State Bernie Buescher’s office regarding the mailers sent out by Western Tradition Partnership (WTP) depicting her as Donald Trump. But she said she will pursue tougher disclosure laws in the next legislative session.

Ethics Watch calls on Maes to release details of withdrawal offer

Colorado Ethics Watch Tuesday waded into the convoluted controversy surrounding accusations that Republican stalwarts offered GOP gubernatorial candidate Dan Maes monetary compensation to withdraw from the race, calling on Maes to disclose any information he might have about such…