LAW WEEK COLORADO
DENVER — A Colorado administrative law judge on Wednesday summarily dismissed a campaign finance complaint filed by Colorado Ethics Watch against Clear the Bench Colorado. And in an unusual move, the law judge ordered Ethics Watch to pay unspecified attorneys fees to Clear The Bench.
The ruling that Ethics Watch’s complaint was frivolous vindicates his client, said Scott Gessler of the Denver law firm Hackstaff Gesssler and one of the attorneys representing Clear The Bench. The other attorney was Mario D. Nicolais.
Clear the Bench is a 1-year-old committee seeking to oust three Colorado Supreme Court justices in November’s retention elections. Ethics Watch, a political watchdog group that has targeted far more Republicans than Democrats in its four-year history, filed a complaint with the Secretary of State’s office alleging that Clear the Bench had improperly registered as an issue committee rather than a political committee. Issue committees have no contribution limits; political committees’ contributions are capped.
Groups that support or oppose candidates are required by the state constitution to register as a political committee, Ethics Watch argued. But Administrative Law Judge Robert Spencer dismissed the complaint because it was filed before any justices had declared their intent to seek retention — in other words, before there were any candidates to oppose. Spencer also awarded attorneys fees to Clear the Bench, though the amount is not yet determined.
But because three justices have declared their intent to seek retention in the time since the original complaint was filed, Ethics Watch may file an amended complaint within 10 days, Spencer ruled. Ethics Watch director Luis Toro said the group intends to do so.
Ethics Watch was represented on a pro-bono basis by Aaron Goldhamer, an associate attorney at Denver law firm Sherman & Howard. The firm is among the city’s more conservative law firms with an emphasis on business and government, not political, clients.
