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Two Republican groups fend off election law complaint

Judge: Campaign ads didn't advocate for a candidate

By Lynn Bartels, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published December 4, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Two Republican groups that supported GOP legislative candidates did not break election laws with their campaign ads, a judge ruled this week.

Republicans were ecstatic at the ruling, saying the complaint against them was filed by a "liberal" organization intent on harassing the GOP.

"They're one-sided attack dogs, that's all," said Scott Shires, the administrator for one GOP group. "I've invited them to show me a list of the Democrats that they've sued. I'm still waiting."

The complaint was filed by Colorado Ethics Watch. The group's director, Chantell Taylor, dismissed criticism that her organization targets Republicans and said she was "extremely disappointed" with the ruling, which likely will be appealed to the Court of Appeals.

Colorado Ethics Watch filed the complaint in September against the Senate Majority Fund and the Colorado Leadership Fund, saying they went too far in a series of political ads supporting Republican candidates.

Taylor maintained the groups advocated for the election of candidates.

That would be a problem because the Senate Majority Fund and the Colorado Leadership Fund are 527s, named for the section of the tax codes that regulates such political committees. Those kinds of groups can raise unlimited funds for ads as long as they don't advocate the election or defeat of candidates and don't coordinate with candidate committees.

Taylor charged that the two groups advocated for candidates, so they were actually regular campaign committees that could raise no more than $500 from each donor for legislative races.

Administrative Law Judge Robert Spencer disagreed in an opinion released Monday.

"(The groups') campaign ads did not contain words of express advocacy," he wrote. "Therefore (the groups) are not political committees."

The groups could have been faced with hefty fines for exceeding the $500 limit for individual contributions.

Attorneys Jason Dunn and Scott Gessler represented the GOP committees.

"We were confident all along that the complaint lacked merit," Dunn said.

"We are now discussing whether to go after them for attorneys' fees."