A state administrative law judge has dismissed a compliant against a Republican coalition pursued by Secretary of State Jena Griswold’s office that accused them of illegally lobbying officials tasked with redistricting.
The judge said the complaint was without merit and there was no evidence to back it up, Colorado Politics reports.
“The (judge) raised the fact that there had been no proper charging document. Specifically, there was no allegation that the respondents had done anything wrong,” the ruling said. “That the evidence ‘suggests’ a violation, is not a ‘claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.’”
“No violations of any Secretary of State rule have been proven,” the ruling said.
The target of the complaint was Frank McNulty, former Colorado House Speaker and the registered agent of the Colorado Neighborhood Coalition.
Stating the obvious, McNulty said the complaint was intended to intimidate Republicans participating in the redistricting effort and was politically motivated by Griswold and Democrats.
Griswold’s office insists they were required by law to refer the complaint to the administrative law judge, and to prove their point, told Colorado Politics they are also going after an Hispanic lobbying group that wanted to participate in the redistricting effort as well.
Not much of a defense.
Especially when this is how Griswold portrayed her actions at the time.
And Colorado Politics also reported then that Griswold’s office announced they intended to pursue claims of lobbying disclosure violations, and actually conducted their own investigation into the charges, dismissing one compliant but forwarding the other to the judge.
So did Griswold break the law then by not forwarding all of the complaints?
From Colorado Politics:
While the Secretary of State’s election’s division found that McNulty and (Greg) Brophy may have violated lobbying rules by being paid by Colorado Neighborhood Coalition and having contact with commissioners that could qualify as lobbying while not being registered as lobbyists, the division found that the group’s single registered lobbyist, former state GOP executive director Alan Philp, did not run afoul of disclosure requirements, as the complaint against the group claimed.
“The Division will pursue Claims 1 and 2 of the complaint against McNulty and Brophy, but will not pursue Claim 2 against Philp, or Claim 3,” an attorney working for the Secretary of State’s elections division wrote in the referral.
Griswold has earned a reputation as a hyper-partisan Democrat who will go to any length to prop up her party.
There’s no shame in that if you’re the leader of the party, but it’s becoming a real problem when it’s our top election official who can’t stop pulling party strings.
The judge’s ruling is obviously embarrassing to Griswold, and it should be.