Secretary Will Not Appeal Campaign Finance Ruling

Denver CO, October 2, 2006 – “Given the proximity of the election and the fact that last week’s appeals court ruling applies only to these to plaintiffs for this election, I have chosen not to appeal further,” Secretary of State Gigi Dennis said Monday. “We continue to believe that this rule is valid and necessary to ensure honest and open elections in Colorado.”

After evaluating an appeals court’s ruling last week, Secretary Dennis said her office would not pursue a Colorado Supreme Court appeal.

“Despite the ruling, I strongly encourage the teachers unions to do a better job educating their members that their dues are being used for political purposes and that they can request a refund of that money if they disagree with how it is spent,” Secretary Dennis added.

While not invalidating the Aug. 2 rule that requires small donor political committees to seek members’ permission before donating their dues money to campaigns, the appeals court last week barred enforcement of it against the state’s two teachers’ unions. The rule remains in place for organizations not involved in this specific legal challenge.

The appeals panel sent the case back to Denver District Judge John McMullen for trial. The two unions and a Democrat state legislator sued Secretary of State Gigi Dennis claiming this rule and two others were beyond her authority, promulgated improperly and overly burdensome.

The Secretary of State prevailed on implementing a rule requiring small donor committees to ensure donations come from legal residents and not foreign citizens. Plaintiffs dropped the challenge to a third rule. Judge McMullen also ruled that there was nothing improper in the manner in which the Secretary of State considered and adopted the rules.

“We continue to believe implementation of this rule furthers the intent of the voters when they adopted Amendment 27 imposing campaign finance restrictions in 2002,” Secretary Dennis said following review of the ruling. “We believe Amendment 27 does not exclude accountability of union leadership to their members – regardless of the court’s interpretation.”