Litigation

Colorado Ouster Group is ?Political,? Judge Rules

By Peter Hardin

Clear the Bench Colorado, a group pressing for the ouster of three state Supreme Court justices in retention elections, is a political committee and must comply with new donation limits, a judge has ruled.

The group will face contribution limits of $525 and will have to disclose more frequently its campaign donors, according to an Associated Press article.

Luis Toro, director of Ethics Watch, called the ruling “a victory for Colorado voters who said in 2002 that judicial elections should be governed by the same rules that apply to other candidate elections,” the Colorado Independent reported.

Administrative Law Judge Robert Spencer ruled that when Clear the Bench Colorado filed as an issues group with state authorities, it should have filed as a political committee. Toro said Judge Spencer’s ruling means that “big money” will be not be permitted in judicial elections, and he said Clear the Bench has taken contributions greater than the $525 limit.

But only three donations to the group in the past 18 months have topped $525, according to a Grand Junction Daily Sentinel article, and they were for $545, for $1,000, and for $2,500.

Clear the Bench is angry about court rulings it says will raise taxes. The ouster drive in Colorado is one of several that have catapulted typically quiet retention elections into a national spotlight (see Gavel Grab) amid concern they will no longer escape high spending by special interest groups. The Justice at Stake Campaign and a partner, the Brennan Center for Justice, raised these concerns in a new report.

Full post as published by The Gavel on September 27, 2010 (boomark / email).