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Senate Republicans pull state seal from Web site

Minority leader sees 'mountain made of molehill'

April M. Washington And Alan Gathright, Rocky Mountain News

Published April 11, 2007 at midnight

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Colorado Senate Republicans have yanked an unauthorized Colorado state seal from their Web site a week after revelations that they hired a controversial GOP operative to create the site.

Senate Minority Leader Andy McElhany, R-Colorado Springs, earlier removed "Hosted by Brad Jones LLC" from the bottom of colo radosenatenews.com, because "He's doing some blatantly partisan things."

Jones made headlines recently by exposing Rep. Mike Merrifield's inflammatory e-mail on Jones' personal blog, facethestate.com, that forced the lawmaker to give up his House Education Committee chairmanship.

McElhany said Tuesday that he used $2,700 in private contributions from the Senate Majority Fund, a GOP campaign account, to pay Jones to design and build the Web site and run it from his computer server.

He stressed that Jones had no involvement in the Senate press Web site's editorial content, which is provided by the Republicans' press staff.

McElhany said the deal with Jones was a handshake agreement - no contract exists.

"I knew how we were paying for it was eventually going to be questioned," McElhany said. "We decided we make a gift to the state out of the Colorado Senate Majority Fund in the interest of getting out the truth to Colorado citizens."

That would seem to put to rest some Democrats' concerns that the partisan press site was funded with state money.

McElhany said he removed the Colorado seal from coloradosen atenews.com after Secretary of State Mike Coffman reminded party caucuses April 2 they can't use the seal in communications.

It's a felony to use the state seal for anything but official documents.

This isn't the first time Republicans violated the state's strict rule about misusing the seal.

Former Republican Senate President John Andrews was forced to pull the seal from a GOP political Web site called coloradosenate.com in 2003.

McElhany said liberal blogs and the press are "making a mountain out of molehill" over the Senate Minority's relationship with Web-designer Jones.

"He has no access to the content," McElhany said. "He's just a vendor."

But a government watchdog said she's troubled by lax rules that allow lawmakers to use campaign money to create a Web site that is staffed by state-paid employees.

"What concerns me is that a political committee is funding the creation of a Web site that purports to be a news and information site (that was) bearing the Colorado state seal," said Chantell Taylor, director of Colorado Citizens for Ethics in Government.

"Nowhere does it indicate that it's the Web site of the Minority office. It just says it's the "Senate News," she added. "I think that is misleading and disingenuous, because clearly the Senate Majority Fund has a very partisan motive."

Republicans, however, counter they're just keeping up with the times by creating an edgy, eye-grabbing Web site.

Sen. Nancy Spence, R-Centennial, said she doesn't see what all the fuss is about.

Republicans and Democrats in both chambers oversee a total of four press offices that are charged with promoting their parties' agenda.

"Both sides have paid staff," she said. "It's just that ours is better than everyone else's in getting out our message."

But Taylor said the Senate GOP site is "more harsh and more partisan than general news releases you see about bills."

Senate President Joan Fitz- Gerald last week questioned whether state employees staffing the Web site had "crossed the line" by using the state seal on news releases touting facethe state.com's expose about the e-mail in which Merrifield said school-choice advocates "deserve a special place in hell."

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