Editorial Board (Greeley Tribune)- We have a hard time placing a lot of blame on area schools and school districts for their potential violations of Colorado’s Fair Campaign Practices Act.
Ultimately the districts are responsible for their actions so, yes, some of the blame does land at the feet of those districts. That said, it appears they did every reasonable thing within their power to avoid such a misstep and when they found out a mistake had been made, then moved quickly to rectify it.
Click here to read the full story in the Greeley Tribune.
Corey Hutchins (Colorado Independent)- Anonymous fliers are targeting candidates in the suburban battlegrounds of hotly contested Colorado House and Senate races — a tactic political observers say is a new and troubling development in state campaigns, but not necessarily an illegal one.
The fliers lack the “paid for” disclosures typically seen on election season political leaflets and carry no information about who is behind them.
Click here to read the full story in the Colorado Independent.
Marianne Goodland (Colorado Independent)- With the election only a month away and mail ballots due out in less than two weeks, “gray money” groups are pouring millions of dollars into Colorado’s most contentious state House and Senate races.
Four Republican committees have raised $3.5 million in the last two years, and spent more than $700,000 between September 15 and September 30, mostly on advertising. Three Democratic groups raised $6.6 million in the past two years, and between September 15 and September 30 spent $1.6 million, much of it on advertising.
Click here to read the full story in the Colorado Independent.
Tyler Silvy (Greeley Tribune)- A lack of balance in communication about multi-million dollar ballot initiatives has put many northern Colorado school districts in apparent violation of Colorado’s Fair Campaign Practices Act.
The act, among other things, requires government entities to include arguments for and against proposals if those entities have used taxpayer dollars to create communications about the proposals.
Click here to read the full story in the Greeley Tribune.
Greeley Tribune Editorial Board (Greeley Tribune)- There’s a 2-year-old state law that requires Colorado school districts to post meeting minutes within 10 days of the minutes being approved.
Colorado Ethics Watch, a left-leaning research and advocacy nonprofit, has done some research to see how Colorado’s schools are doing with the relatively new mandate. The results weren’t great for the state with less than 60 percent of the districts in compliance.
Click here to read the full story in the Greeley Tribune.
Click here to read the full report by Colorado Ethics Watch.
Mike Lamp (Colorado Public Radio)- Colorado Ethics Watch wants more of the state’s school districts to post minutes of their board meetings online – as a state law requires.
In a new report, the watchdog group looked at more than 170 districts through the first half of this year. It estimates about a quarter of Colorado districts are in violation of a 2014 school transparency law that says districts have to post meeting minutes if they have a website.
Click here to read the full story in Colorado Public Radio.
Jonathan Baker (High Plains Public Radio)- Almost half of Colorado school districts are not complying with a state transparency law, reports The Colorado Independent.
The watchdog group Colorado Ethics Watch has found that 43 percent of Colorado’s school districts are not complying with a law requiring school boards to post minutes of their meetings in a timely manner.
Click here to read the full story in High Plains Public Radio.
Kelsey Ray (Colorado Independent)- Only 57 percent of Colorado school districts fully comply with a state transparency law, independent watchdog group Colorado Ethics Watch has found.
The group examined the websites of 177 Colorado school boards between January and July 2016 to see how many were posting minutes of their school board meetings in a timely manner, as is required by law. That law, which went into effect in June 2014, says school boards must post the minutes within 10 days of approving them.
Click here to read the full story in the Colorado Independent.
Billie Stanton Anleu (Colorado Springs Gazette)- The Colorado GOP is calling for an ethics investigation into Gov. John Hickenlooper’s video soliciting partisan donations while standing in front of the state seal in his office in the Capitol.
A video since deleted from his Facebook page shows Hickenlooper accepting the Democratic Senate Campaign Fund’s “glass ceiling challenge” and donating $20 to the cause, then challenging Lt. Gov. Donna Lynne, state Sen. Rachel Zenzinger and state Rep. Daneya Esgar – all Democrats – to contribute $20 each too.
Click here to read the full story in the Colorado Springs Gazette.
Tyler Silvy (Greeley Tribune)- More than 40 percent of Colorado school districts leave their residents out of the loop and appear to be in violation of a 2-year-old state law, according to an investigation by Colorado Ethics Watch, a left-leaning research and advocacy nonprofit.
The group researched 177 Colorado school districts, looking at school board websites to see if the boards were in compliance with a 2014 law that requires districts to post meeting minutes within 10 days of those minutes being approved, according to Colorado Ethics Watch.
Click here to read the full story in the Greeley Tribune.
Click here to read Colorado Ethics Watch report on school board minutes.
