Tag: gessler

One of the biggest unanswered questions out there is what's really going on with insurance rates and Obamacare. This is the time when you need a smart guy to explain it all. Enter Ezra Klein.

Secretary of State Scott Gessler, a Republican candidate for governor, announced Tuesday he would be suspending campaign efforts this week in order to help elect conservative candidates to the Douglas County School Board. The surprise move has political observers scratching their heads.

A handful of marijuana reform advocates gathered on a sidewalk outside an Obama campaign office in Lakewood Thursday morning to draw attention to what they characterized as the Obama Administration's aggressive use of federal law to interfere with the rights of medical marijuana businesses and patients in Colorado and elsewhere.

Denver District Court Judge Bruce Jones ruled Thursday (pdf) that Secretary of State Scott Gessler overreached last summer when, through rulemaking, he raised constitutionally established donation disclosure limits for issue committees in the state. Judge Jones signaled during arguments that he believed Gessler had taken it onto himself to amend the Colorado Constitution, an absurd stretch for a non-lawmaking official such as the secretary of state. Gessler said he is determined to appeal the decision. He dismissed Jones's arguments as mere grandstanding for the press.

Richard Allen Smith, Afghan war veteran and vice chairman of national soldier and veteran advocacy organization VoteVets, on Thursday hand delivered a petition with more than 9,000 signatures asking Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler to drop the lawsuit he filed seeking to prevent counties in the state from mailing ballots to inactive voters, including to soldiers serving away from home. The organization is asking Gessler to accept a decision handed down in district court last week finding insupportable Gessler's interpretation of election law in the matter.

Pueblo County Clerk Gilbert Ortiz is pained by the idea that his office would fail to send an election ballot to even one of county soldier serving in the US Military overseas. He sent a letter Tuesday to Secretary of State Scott Gessler seeking an express prohibition "in writing " on sending ballots to soldiers overseas who are legally registered but inactive voters.

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.