A campaign finance complaint accusing Durango city councilors and the city manager of illegally using taxpayer money to encourage electors to vote for a proposed sales-tax increase has been rejected by the City Clerk’s Office.
In a news release Thursday, the city said Durango has not adopted regulations or a process to investigate and act on complaints filed under Colorado’s Fair Campaign Practices Act. The city also said after legal analysis, there were no expenditures that would constitute a violation of state law.
The FCPA is a state law drafted to ensure transparent and ethical political campaigns.
John Simpson, the Durango resident who filed the complaint March 12, accused City Manager Ron LeBlanc and four city councilors – Sweetie Marbury, Dick White, Chris Bettin and Dean Brookie – of using city staff time, resources and equipment at a March 5 City Council meeting to produce and disseminate information urging voters to support ballot measure 1A, which proposes to increase sales taxes by 0.5 percent to pay for the construction, operation and maintenance of streets, alleys, sidewalks, curbs and gutters.
Councilor Melissa Youssef did not attend the meeting and is not named in the complaint.
Durango is a home-rule municipality with the authority to adopt its own campaign finance rules and regulations, separate from the Colorado Secretary of State, the city wrote in its news release. The city said, “The Colorado Secretary of State does not have the authority to adopt rules or otherwise unilaterally delegate the power to the city of Durango to act on state FCPA complaints.”
Campaign complaint dismissed
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City Attorney Dirk Nelson said since Durango does not have a process by which to adjudicate FCPA violations, and since the secretary of state does not have the authority to require Durango to adjudicate state campaign finance rules, the city cannot accept or act on such complaints.
Nelson said the city has the authority to enact campaign finance rules, it just hasn’t done so. The Secretary of State’s Office has taken the position that it does not have the authority to act on FCPA complaints in a home-rule municipality, and the city has no authority to rule on whether state law has been violated, Nelson said.
Since neither Durango nor the Secretary of State’s Office accept responsibility for addressing the complaint, there is no venue in which the alleged violation of state law can be adjudicated.
Even if Durango had the authority to rule on the complaint, the city said Simpson’s allegation does not constitute a use of city funds to promote a ballot issue.
“I think we’re taking the position that the facts he stated would not be a violation under state law,” Nelson said.
Simpson said he isn’t satisfied with the city’s response. He said he “completely expected” a dismissal from the city, but he remains convinced the city used taxpayer resources to promote ballot measure 1A. He’s dissatisfied with the lack of explanation from the city about how the city manager’s and city councilors’ comments on 1A at a City Council meeting, for which they are paid to attend, did not use city resources.
“They used city resources to produce the City Council meeting and Council Connections (a video recap of the meeting), and they’re hosting it on their website, and to every voter in Durango, that looks like city resources,” Simpson said. “Regardless of the legality, they owe the citizens an explanation of how they’re not using city funds.”
Simpson said he would wait until after the April 2 election to pursue legal action against the city in regard to its response to his complaint. He hasn’t done enough research to address the assertion that neither the city nor the secretary of state have authority to rule on his complaint, Simpson said.
“The legal issue is a much bigger picture,” Simpson said. “... How can we come to an understanding of what is city resources and what isn’t.”
