Coffman Pushes For More Transparency in Political Process

Campaign Finance Website Revamp a Top Priority; Electronic Filing by Campaign Committees Mandatory, as of October 1, 2007

Denver, April 25, 2007 – Secretary of State Mike Coffman today called on the General Assembly to support Senate Bill 07-259, sponsored by Senator Ken Gordon (D-Denver). The legislation will give the Secretary of State the resources to conduct a thorough review and overhaul of the Department’s campaign finance website.

“Transparency is crucial to ensure the integrity of our political processes,” Coffman said. “Colorado’s campaign finance website is in dire need of a complete overhaul to allow the public and members of the media to quickly and easily find information in the financial reports of campaign committees. I appreciate that Senator Gordon agreed to take on this issue, and I urge lawmakers to act quickly in favor of this legislation so my office will have the resources necessary to update this antiquated system.”

The website overhaul will not only improve how the public accesses this information, it will also seek to improve how campaign committees electronically file their reports.

The Colorado Press Association, the Colorado Broadcasters Association, Common Cause and Colorado Citizens for Ethics in Government joined the Secretary of State’s office today in the Senate Committee on State, Veterans & Military Affairs to testify in support of the bill. The committee passed the bill with a 3 to 1 vote.

Coffman also announced that starting October 1, 2007 his office will require campaign committees that file with the Secretary of State to file electronically. Small committees, with financial reports of less than thirty entries, may continue to file in paper form, and any committee may apply for a “hardship” exemption with the Secretary’s office, if, for instance, they do not have access to the internet.

However, starting in October 2007 the vast majority of campaign committee financial reports will be filed electronically, bringing instant transparency to our political process.

In the past, campaign committees have routinely worked the system by filing their financial reports in paper form at 5pm the day of the deadline, thus depriving the public and the media of immediate access to this information. The Secretary of State’s office manually enters the data from paper filings, which can take up to two weeks to complete.

“Voters have a right to know who is supporting a particular candidate financially,” Coffman said. “By requiring campaign committees to report their contributions and expenditures electronically, we will make this information available to the public immediately.”