May 24, 2007 12:50 AM UTC

Are Coffman's Rules Legal?

• 7 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

Republican Secretary of State Mike Coffman has been under increasing fire lately for his own mistakes, and as much as his office likes to pretend that he is a victim of unfair criticism, there’s no denying the fact that Coffman puts himself in these bad positions time and time again.

Today Coffman spoke at a gathering of Republicans in Larimer County, just a few days after speaking to Mesa County Republicans. There wouldn’t be anything wrong with this if Coffman hadn’t instituted his own policies last Thursday preventing his employees – but excluding himself – from taking part in political party activities.

But according to the watchdog group Citizens for Ethics in Government, Coffman’s new policies aren’t even legal:

Colorado Citizens for Ethics in Government (CCEG) today called on Secretary of State Mike Coffman to repeal sections of a new internal policy he announced in the wake of allegations that one of his top staff operated a partisan side-business.  CCEG says the policy is unconstitutional.

Portions of the new policy prohibit state employees from making contributions to a partisan organization or political party, candidate for a partisan office, or an organization that is working for or against a statewide ballot initiative or a referendum.  The Supreme Court has held in Buckely v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1, 19, 22 (1976) that limiting contributions is an unconstitutional impingement on First Amendment rights.

“In a hasty attempt to prevent political fall-out from the allegations facing his office, Secretary Coffman imposed a new policy on his staff that is blatantly unconstitutional,” said CCEG Director Chantell Taylor.  “The ability to make a contribution is a constitutionally protected freedom of expression and association that extends to every citizen, including public employees.”

“State law and personnel rules are already in place to prevent public employees from engaging in outside activities that are incompatible with their official duties. Secretary Coffman should immediately repeal his new policy and instead pledge to follow and enforce the laws already on the books.”

If CCEG is correct, the good news for Coffman is that he won’t be contradicting his own rules anymore. Of course, the bad news is that he might have created a new problem trying to solve another problem.