Tag: luis toro

Messages today multiply. One brings another and soon they pile up like grains of sand in the Sahara. Can we really expect officials to keep them all and to deliver them in digestible chunks in a timely way upon request?

Then came the news that a Colorado Court approved a $16,025 records-retrieval fee. It's the kind of price tag that dampens the will to watchdog government and clouds the work of public officials.

DENVER-- A report released today by Colorado Ethics Watch describes oil-and-gas industry spending on state election campaigns and legislative lobbying efforts as disproportionally influential and “shocking.”

Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler on Monday cut a personal check to the Department of State for $1,278.90, looking to put an end to an ethics investigation that has stretched on since the middle of October and that seemed likely to continue attracting headlines and draining public funds for months to come.

Draft documents drawn up by Colorado Independent Ethics Commission suggest members will allow Secretary of State Scott Gessler to establish a private defense fund he hopes to draw on in the event that an investigation launched into his alleged misuse of public funds leads to criminal charges. The apparent nod from the ethics board comes despite harsh dissent of its chairman, Dan Grossman.

Colorado Attorney General John Suthers' office this week made what's sure to be a controversial decision to officially support Secretary of State Scott Gessler's effort to establish a legal defense fund. The fund would host contributions from private donors willing to cover costs tied to a Denver District Attorney criminal investigation into reimbursements Gessler charged to his office for alleged unofficial expenses.

The 2012 election season has seen a surprising uptick in the number of employers willing to wade into voter intimidation gray areas by notifying their employees that their jobs depend on who wins the White House. The not so subtle message: Vote the way your boss wants you to vote.

Luis Toro, director of left-leaning government watchdog group Colorado Ethics Watch, said on Monday that a preliminary review of documents suggests Secretary of State Scott Gessler's decision to bill taxpayers for travel to partisan political functions stands out when compared to decisions made by other state-wide office holders.

Over the course of a five-hour rulemaking hearing Monday, Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler probably got the message that a lot of people are unhappy with proposed rules that would stop county clerks from mailing ballots to inactive voters in some elections, change the way canvass boards are selected and give county clerks more power to determine how much access election watchers have.

On the record, Jessica Peck isn't thinking much about a potential Internal Revenue Service investigation into her Denver-based watchdog Open Government Institute.