DENVER – Today, United States District Court Judge Robert Blackburn dismissed a lawsuit filed by Rocky Mountain Gun Owners (RMGO) and Colorado Campaign For Life (CCL) against Ethics Watch. RMGO and CCL filed the suit against Ethics Watch in response to Ethics Watch’s successful lawsuit against the two groups for failing to disclose electioneering spending in two Republican state Senate primaries in 2014.
The Court rejected RMGO and CCL’s argument that Ethics Watch’s complaint against them amounted to an invasion of their First Amendment rights because Ethics Watch allegedly has a pattern of targeting groups based on the content of their speech. From the order:
There is no basis to conclude that the complaint brought by CEW was frivolous or was undertaken without a reasonably objective hope of success. The complaint was found to be valid. The plaintiffs claim CEW targets only conservative political groups. If so, the plaintiffs appear to argue, the complaint of CEW against the plaintiff was motivated by retaliation for political speech. Based on the CEW website, the plaintiffs claim to show a record of CEW’s efforts to target Republicans with complaints and litigation.
As CEW notes, however, this record of the actions of CEW is incomplete. Notably, by the measure of the plaintiffs, each of the plaintiffs has been subject to a complaint initiated by CEW on only one occasion. The evidence cited by the plaintiffs is not sufficient to justify further discovery on the issue of bad faith or harassment of the plaintiffs by CEW. Notably, the plaintiffs did not raise contentions of bad faith or harassment in the state proceedings. The CEW complaint at issue here was found to be valid in the state proceeding. Nothing in the evidence cited by the parties shows that CEW pursues invalid complaints as a method of harassment and/or in retaliation for certain types of political speech. There is no evidence of unjustified and oppressive multiple complaints by CEW.
Ethics Watch Director Luis Toro said: “As a nonpartisan watchdog group, Ethics Watch files complaints for violations of the law on money in politics based on the evidence we can present in court to obtain a successful result. We are pleased that a federal judge has reviewed the evidence and confirmed that we do not target groups based on the content of their speech.”
Helpful Links:
- Click here to read Judge Blackburn’s decision.
- Click here to read about Ethics Watch’s successful campaign finance lawsuit against RMGO and CCL.
- RMGO v. Ethics Watch Order Granting Motion to Dismiss by Colorado Ethics Watch:
