December 20, 2007 09:30 PM UTC

Coffman Can't Afford to Continue as SOS

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• by: Colorado Pols

Republican Secretary of State Mike Coffman has said that he will not resign his seat in order to run for congress in CD-6 – unless GOP leaders make him angry – but it’s starting to look as though he may not have a choice.

From the major voting problems facing Colorado in 2008 to a fresh conflict of interest scandal, Coffman has a full-time job just trying to shovel out from underneath the huge pile of problems he’s now buried with.

The liberal group Progress Now is calling on Coffman to resign because of various conflict of interest scandals, and he probably should – but not for that reason exactly. Coffman’s biggest problem at this point is that he can no longer be a strong candidate for congress while serving as SOS, because there’s only so much time in the day.

Ordinarily being SOS is not a terribly taxing job, and many candidates have run for other offices at the same time. But the media is going to be all over the voting problems story for the next year, and if early reports are any indication, this is a HUGE problem that can’t be fixed with just a few minor tweaks. Coffman can’t be an effective candidate for congress and be an effective SOS because there will be too much scrutiny on how his office prepares for the election. And if he does a poor job in addressing the voting problems, it will seriously damage his candidacy in CD-6; if he resigns his office, however, the damage won’t be as bad.

Coffman is the favorite to win the Republican nomination in CD-6, which would make him a shoo-in to be Colorado’s newest congressman given the makeup of the district. But the Republican primary is no cakewalk, and the more time he spends at his day job, the easier it becomes for Ted Harvey and Wil Armstrong to overtake him.

Coffman will be criticized by Republicans if he gives up his seat in order to run a strong race for congress, but if he does a poor job as SOS because he’s running for congress, he’ll get killed for that, too. And if he doesn’t resign, the criticism over the conflict of interest stories will only grow.

Coffman is in a no-win situation, so this decision is really a no-brainer. Coffman can stay in his office and get killed whatever he does, or he can resign and focus his energies on running for congress, where he is the favorite to win the seat.