Colorado Secretary of State Mike Coffman must resign
"Secretary Coffman has a pattern of conflicts of interest and should resign immediately," stated Michael Huttner, Executive Director of ProgressNowAction, the state's largest online advocacy organization. "After last Friday's resignation of the State Elections Director, Coloradans need a full-time Secretary of State, not someone who's campaigning full-time and overseeing the election on the side."
Coffman was elected Secretary of State less than two years ago and is responsible for facilitating and regulating all precedures for fair and efficient elections in Colorado. He decided to run for Congress after only nine months on the job. And in his short tenure, he has faced continuous criticism for conflicts of interest.
Last Friday Coffman's State Elections Director resigned after Colorado Ethics Watch exposed a conflict of interest between Coffman's office and a voter databse consultant who received over $183,000 in contracts from Coffman's office in the past year.(RMN, 9/6/2008)
In April, Colorado Ethics Watch alleged that Coffman was fundraising on taxpayers' time. (RMN, 4/4/2008)
In December, the Rocky Mountain News reported that the political consulting company running Coffman's congressional campaign also was working for the only voting machine manufacturer whose machines Coffman certified. (RMN, 12/20/2007)
Premier Election Solutions, formerly Diebold, was the only one of four voting machine companies to have all of its equipment conditionally approved by Coffman for use in 2008 elections. Premier hired Phase Line Strategies, which is running Coffman's campaign, in September to lobby on its behalf, records show.
In response to a request from Colorado Ethics Watch last May, the Colorado State Auditor's office launched an investigation into Coffman's office because an employee was operating a website and company that offered to sell voter information to Republicans. The audit concluded that Coffman botched the most fundamental duties of his office by mismanaging voter data, misplacing federal funds and allowing state employees to engage in outside employment without proper disclosure.
And in 2004 Coffman was the first Colorado statewide elected official to be found guilty of violating the Fair Campaign Practices Act by the Colorado Supreme Court for misusing his public office.
