In a September 1 article about a controversial campaign finance rule change affecting so-called “small donor” campaign committees, The Denver Post reported that Colorado Secretary of State Gigi Dennis (R) has said “politics played no part in her decision” to establish that and two other election rules. Although the Post story by reporter Karen Crummy did report that “some have criticized Dennis, a Republican, for making the rule changes after meeting with two GOP lawyers,” the article did not disclose -- as had Crummy's August 24 Post story -- that one of those Republican lawyers, Scott Gessler, “acknowledged politics played a role” in his request for the rule changes.

The story also did not disclose that the two GOP lawyers in question work for Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez, the Colorado state Republican Party, and the Trailhead Group, a Republican political committee. The September 1 article quoted Gessler as being in favor of the rule changes but did not identify him as one of the Republican lawyers who had presented them to Dennis, who then reportedly adopted one of the proposed rules “in its entirety.”

As Colorado Media Matters has noted, the August 24 Post story reported that between them, the attorneys who met with Dennis -- Gessler and John Zakhem -- “work for the state GOP, [Republican] gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez and a powerful Republican political committee [The Trailhead Group].” The August 24 Post story also reported that one of the rule changes proposed by the pair “was adopted in its entirety by Dennis.” The rule Dennis adopted verbatim was one that, as The Post reported, “require[ed] groups to get written permission from each member to transfer dues to a political or small-donor committee.” The Post quoted Gessler as saying, “It was not my sole motivating factor to help Bob Beauprez, but was I conscious of it? Yes,” and adding, “The rules are riddled with exceptions that help out Democratic constituencies.”

The Post's September 1 story also quoted Gessler but neglected to identify him as one of the Republican lawyers who proposed the controversial rule change to Dennis:

“Unions are pumping huge amounts of unaccountable and involuntary money into the system,” GOP campaign lawyer Scott Gessler said Thursday. “If we're going to have campaign-finance laws, they should apply equally.”

From the article by Karen Crummy titled “Dem-friendly committees reap $1.5 million in anonymous gifts,” published in the September 1 edition of The Denver Post:

The anonymous money comes from union dues and individual contributions of $20 or less - the type Republican Secretary of State Gigi Dennis has been accused by Democrats of unfairly trying to eliminate with emergency campaign-finance rules passed last month.

“Unions are pumping huge amounts of unaccountable and involuntary money into the system,” GOP campaign lawyer Scott Gessler said Thursday. “If we're going to have campaign-finance laws, they should apply equally.”

A group of individual citizens, unions and a state representative have filed suit over the new rules, saying they target traditionally Democratic groups.

“The fact of the matter is that the Republicans tried to use (small-donor) committees, and they got some support but just not very much,” said their attorney, Mark Grueskin. (Grueskin also serves as counsel for Colorado Media Matters.)

Dennis said she passed the rules to increase transparency in the election process.

Dennis' new rules require groups that collect membership dues to get written permission from each member to transfer the dues to a political or small-donor committee. It also requires that political committees “declare, under penalty of perjury,” that they believe all contributions received are from permissible sources, such as legal residents. This also includes contributions received from membership dues.

Contributors to small-donor committees are capped at $50 a person. However, the committee can give 10 times as much to candidate campaigns as individuals can. In other words, a small-donor committee can give $5,000 per election to candidates running for statewide office and $2,000 to other candidates.

Because labor groups, as well as corporations, are prohibited by law from contributing money directly to candidates, many create small-donor committees that often are referred to as the “union loophole” in campaign-finance law.

Republicans in Colorado also use the committees, but they have been less effective in raising and spending money.

Eight of the larger Democratic-leaning small-donor groups in Colorado had raised more than $1.5 million from anonymous sources before the new rules took effect.

[...]

The new rules affect unions and other traditionally Democratic-leaning groups, prompting a number of Democrats to urge Dennis to either delay implementation of the rules until after the November election or retract them entirely. Some say that enforcing the written authorization from membership groups is too burdensome this close to the election.

Additionally, some have criticized Dennis, a Republican, for making the changes after meeting with two GOP lawyers. Dennis has said politics played no part in her decision.