March 01, 2012 04:44 PM UTC

Thou Doth Protest Too Much, Jessica Peck

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• by: Colorado Pols

Briefly lighting on the Broomfield Enterprise’s story yesterday, sure to be aggressively promoted by local conservatives today:

In a press release issued Wednesday, grass-roots conservative advocacy organization Compass Colorado slammed state Democrats for naming former state Rep. Anne McGihon as a co-host for a Primavera fundraiser on March 11. As a registered lobbyist in Colorado, McGihon is legally bound from contributing to or soliciting contributions on behalf of a legislative candidate’s campaign while the legislature is in session, Compass Colorado stated in its release, citing Colorado Revised Statute 1-45-105.5(1)(a). The Colorado General Assembly is in session until May 9.

“It is reprehensible that the State Democratic Caucus would go through with this,” Compass Colorado President and former National Republican Congressional Committee Press Secretary Tyler Houlton said Wednesday. “They need to cancel this fundraiser right off the bat, and we’ll see what kind of legal consequences there are.”

We’ll start by agreeing that former Rep. Anne McGihon, a registered lobbyist, may have indeed screwed up by putting up her name as a host of this fundraiser, which could be a violation of Colorado campaign finance law. If so, it wouldn’t be the first time that ex-Rep. McGihon has stepped in it politically–arguably a big reason why she was not elected Speaker of the House in 2008, lost her committee chair soon after, and resigned her seat in 2009.

Safe to say, smart Democrats aren’t going to waste much time defending her.

So McGihon may have carelessly given Republican attack groups a pretext. It’s not really reasonable to ask that en entire fundraiser be canceled just because one host had to remove their name, but they’re naturally going to complain. So would Democrats in the inverse.

The problem is, from here it gets a little weird and hypocritical as Republicans, sensing an opportunity, swarm and attack–the Broomfield Enterprise continues:

Jessica Peck, executive director of nonpartisan, nonprofit political ethics watchdog organization the Open Government Institute of Colorado, said McGihon’s decision to withdraw her name is too little, too late.

“She put her name out there soliciting for candidate contributions,” Peck said Wednesday. “Even if she has taken her name off (the fundraiser invitation), it was still used to promote an event in violation of campaign finance rules.”

First of all, calling Jessica Peck the director of anything “nonpartisan” is like saying Moveon.org is “nonpartisan.” Meaning it’s completely laughable. The Denver paper, which counts Ms. Peck among its Battleground Colorado panel, identifies her as an employee of Henley Public Affairs, which in turn advertises itself as “a PR force to be reckoned with.” The only two links at Henley Public Affairs “links” section are to Clockwise Media, which specializes in “design from the Right for the Right,” and local right-wing blog WhoSaidYouSaid.

Presumably the “Open Government Institute of Colorado” will be in that link list soon?

And when it comes to “campaign finance rules,” you may be interested in learning that Jessica Peck has not always been so, you know, punctilious! This op-ed Ms. Peck wrote for the right-wing Independence Institute in 2008 strikes a very different chord:

Campaign finance reform, once billed as a way to mitigate the effect of big money in politics, is having its greatest impact in turning well-intentioned grassroots candidates and campaigns into lawbreakers…

Money will always find a way into politics. This year’s batch of local, state, and federal candidates are already spending more money than ever before. Sadly, our campaign finance laws are being turned into tools for vicious political slander that must be stopped. [Pols emphasis]

Do tell, Jessica!

In conclusion, there are lessons in this little brouhaha for all parties. Fundraiser organizers, be sure all of your “in formation” hosts are legally allowed to be on that list, because apparently some people are too stupid to do that for themselves like they should. And attack dogs, make sure you haven’t taken a position that makes you look like a total hypocrite before you pile on.