Rocky corrects erroneous story that Gordon called for Dennis's resignation, following Colorado Media Matters report

Written by Media Matters Staff

Published

The Rocky Mountain News corrected a September 6 article that it said “mistakenly” reported that Democratic candidate for Secretary of State Ken Gordon called on current Secretary of State Gigi Dennis (R) to resign for making controversial changes to state campaign finance rules. As Colorado Media Matters reported, Gordon, in fact, asked Dennis to delay implementing the rules until after the November election.

The Rocky Mountain News on September 9 corrected a September 6 article that it said “mistakenly” reported Democratic candidate for Secretary of State Ken Gordon called on current Secretary of State Gigi Dennis (R) to resign for making controversial changes to Colorado campaign finance rules. On September 8, a Colorado Media Matters review of Gordon's statements revealed that he did not call for Dennis's resignation, but in fact asked her to delay implementing the new rules until after the November election.

The September 6 article in the News reported that “All three candidates for secretary of state criticized the current officeholder Tuesday for making changes to campaign finance laws two months before the November election.” Later in the same article by reporter April M. Washington, the News inaccurately stated “Gordon, who last week called on Dennis to resign, accused her of playing partisan politics.” In fact, Gordon made no such demand.

From the September 9 Rocky Mountain News:

“A story on Page 12A Wednesday [September 6] mistakenly said that Secretary of State candidate Ken Gordon, D-Denver, had called on Secretary of State Gigi Dennis to resign.”

Although the September 9 correction did not provide details, the News possibly confused Gordon's statements with those of Colorado Democratic Party Chair Pat Waak, who on August 28 did call on Dennis to resign as secretary of state. An August 30 article in the News reported, “Senate Majority Leader Ken Gordon today called on Secretary of State Gigi Dennis to delay her controversial campaign-finance rules until after the November election.” The same August 30 News article also reported, “Pat Waak, the chairwoman of the Colorado Democratic Party, has called on Dennis to resign, but Gordon said that doesn't solve the problem.”

Similarly, a Denver Post article from August 30 stated, “Both the Republican and Democratic candidates for secretary of state Wednesday called on the woman they would replace to delay enforcement of controversial new campaign finance rules until after the November election.” The same article also noted, “Pat Waak, head of the state Democratic Party, on Monday called for Dennis's resignation.”