Colorado Common Cause :: In the News

Ritter to pick replacement for Coffman

 

  • Convention cash may undermine campaigns' focus
  • Rocky Mountain News, June 10, 2008

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    Sen. John McCain, who wrote the law banning corporate donations to political parties, and Sen. Barack Obama, who refuses lobbyist money, will be nominated for president at conventions largely funded by industries whose Washington clout they've railed against on the campaign trail.

    Convention organizers in Minneapolis-St. Paul and Denver are seeking donations of up to $5 million each, part of an effort to raise $100 million between them from private sources.

  • Voting system testing begets controversy
  • Rocky Mountain News, June 7, 2008

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    Secretary of State Mike Coffman calls Colorado's testing process for e-voting equipment one of the most rigorous in the country, and national voting system experts agree.

    Most states accept certification of machines done by a volunteer national organization. Colorado is among a handful of states that have recently started doing their own testing.

  • Legislators seek gift-law clarification
  • The Gazette, April 7, 2008

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    Apr. 7--DENVER -- Legislators plan this week to ask the newly formed Independent Ethics Commission whether government workers can accept inheritances or allow their kids to take college scholarships -- and to look to change the law if the answers are "no."

     

    House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver, has asked the Office of Legislative Legal Services to draw up a list of the most commonly asked questions about Amendment 41, which bans lobbyists' gifts to state employees and limits gifts from anyone else to state workers to $50.

  • Panel set for Amend. 41 issues Lawmakers, others eager for guidance on what they can accept under gift ban
  • The Denver Post, April 7, 2008

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    What happens under Colorado's new gift ban if a Department of Motor Vehicles teller wins a door prize? What if a Colorado State University professor wins a Nobel Prize? Or a state senator's kid receives a scholarship?

     

    Lawmakers plan to pose about a dozen "what ifs" to the state ethics commission this week to clarify the much-grumbled-about Amendment 41, which prohibits public employees and officials from accepting gifts greater than $50 in value.

  • Lawmakers formally kill paper ballot bill, clear way for e-voting
  • The Associated Press State & Local Wire, March 20, 2008


  • DATELINE: DENVER

     

    State lawmakers killed a proposal on Thursday that would have forced counties to conduct paper ballot elections this year, freeing them to use their controversial electronic voting machines.

     

    The 8-1 vote by the Senate Appropriations Committee means the bill cannot be brought back this legislative session. Most lawmakers and Gov. Bill Ritter pulled their support from the bill on Wednesday in the face of stiff opposition from county clerks and Secretary of State Mike Coffman.

  • Gift ban is back, as clear as ever Court revives rules without instruction
  • The Denver Post, February 26, 2008

  • Colorado lawmakers and government workers were tossed back into confusion Monday when the state Supreme Court reinstated what some consider an ambiguous and invasive ethics law.

     

    The court ruled it was premature to toss out Amendment 41 because a panel to hear alleged violations is not yet in place, but justices did not clarify how far the ethics-in-government measure's power stretches.

     

    While supporters of the measure celebrated the news, inside the Capitol there was widespread annoyance at the court for not clearing up the voter-approved law's obscurity.

  • So you think you can caucus?
  • University Wire, February 4, 2008

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    As Super Tuesday approaches, many students still have questions about how to caucus.


    John Marshall, a freshman environmental design major, was unsure of exactly how the caucuses operate or even what their purpose is.

  • Ritter, lawmakers want paper election in 2008
  • The Associated Press State & Local Wire, January 24, 2008

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    Gov. Bill Ritter and state legislative leaders from both parties want voters to be able to cast paper ballots in person in this year's elections now that most of the state's electronic voting equipment has been decertified.

     

    Under a plan announced Wednesday, voters in the primary as well the November presidential election would be able to cast their ballots in polling places on Election Day or vote through early voting and by mail.

  • Freebies regaining foothold Some officials are following the on-hold ethics law; some aren't.
  • The Denver Post, January 22, 2008

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    Colorado's strict, no-cup-of-coffee ethics law is still tied up in court - and some lawmakers are already ignoring it, hoping for a permanent end to the unpopular and invasive measure.

     

    A majority of state politicians continue to turn down free event tickets and expensive dinners with lobbyists even though Amendment 41 was put on hold seven months ago.

  • Voting machine veto poses huge challenge Decision to decertify electronic systems sends counties scrambling
  • December 18, 2007

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    Preparations for the 2008 presidential election were thrown into disarray Monday when Colorado Secretary of State Mike Coffman announced that thousands of electronic voting machines used in most counties across the state can't be used because they are inaccurate and insecure.

     

    The decision to decertify voting and counting machines forces election officials in nearly all the largest voting areas in the state - including Denver, Jefferson, Boulder, Arapahoe, Douglas and Pueblo counties - to scramble to come up with a new voting system in less than a year.