State law says they can use the funds for official business as they "see fit," and Colorado's five statewide elected officials spend money from their offices' discretionary accounts on meals, office supplies, parking, salaries, employee retirement parties and occasional travel to nonpartisan events — among other things.
But a review of discretionary-account spending shows that Secretary of State Scott Gessler, a Republican who attended the Republican National Convention and a GOP lawyers meeting on the same Florida trip, is the only current statewide official who has used his office's fund for party-related events. He's also the only public official who has given himself an end-of-year payout from the fund to reimburse expenses without any receipts.
The review of current state elected officials who have such accounts also included a review of the discretionary spending of former Secretary of State Bernie Buescher, Gessler's predecessor.
Colorado Ethics Watch, a liberal group that has criticized Gessler, on Monday asked District Attorney Mitch Morrissey to look into whether Gessler broke laws against embezzlement of public funds and filing false statements by taking the Florida trip in late August using $1,452 from his discretionary fund.
Additionally, Ethics Watch has asked Morrissey to examine a separate $1,400 payout Gessler gave himself from his discretionary fund in July 2011, a sum that depleted what was left in the office account at the end of the 2010-11 fiscal year.
A spokesman for Gessler said the payout was for "day-to-day" expenses incurred by the secretary of state for which he had no receipts, but Ethics Watch questions whether it was a self-awarded bonus. Two Democratic state senators have called for an audit of Gessler's spending.
Ethics Watch also has filed a complaint with the Colorado Independent Ethics Commission, which can fine public officials who run afoul of ethics laws. Morrissey's office and the Ethics Commission are reviewing the complaints.
Gessler has said the Florida trip was justifiable because he attended the Republican National Lawyers Association conference Aug. 24-25 and learned the latest trends affecting election law prior to going to the Republican National Convention. He pointed to continuing-legal-education credit gained at the GOP lawyers conference.
"This is the only way for me to find out what the hot issues are in election law," he said, adding that his discretionary- fund spending shouldn't be singled out.
"You have to look at what people have done historically in this office," Gessler said. "You have to also look at what other state officials are doing."
But it appears no one else is doing what Gessler did.
Records of discretionary-account spending by Gov. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat; Lt. Gov. Joe Garcia, a Democrat; Treasurer Walker Stapleton, a Republican; and Attorney General John Suthers, a Republican, showed no similar spending on political-party-related events — or for undocumented expenses — over the past two years, the period in which all but Suthers took office. Rec-ords for Gessler's predecessor in office also do not show spending on party-related events or for personal payouts without documentation.
Under Colorado law, each statewide elected official has a discretionary fund. The governor is appropriated $20,000 per year, while all the other officials have funds of $5,000 per year. The law says the money is to be spent "in pursuance of official business as each elected official sees fit."
Meanwhile, Colorado state rules on budgeting limit the expenditure of public funds to "official state business purposes only." And when Gessler sought reimbursement for his trip, he signed a letter affirming that his supporting documents were for "expenses incurred in pursuance of state business."
"The discretionary fund really is, as its name suggests, at the discretion of the state official," said state Sen. Pat Steadman of Denver, a member of the legislature's Joint Budget Committee and one of the Democrats calling for the audit. "But we expect him to use it only for official state business."
According to the Republican National Lawyers Association's website, the group "builds the Republican Party goals and ideals through a nationwide network of supportive lawyers who understand and directly support Republican policy, agendas and candidates."
One expert on government ethics said there was no way the purpose of Gessler's trip could be called anything but partisan. It's not necessary for the secretary of state to be a lawyer, so the benefit of any continuing- legal-education credit is not to the public, said Judy Nadler, senior fellow in government ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, Calif.
Even if the secretary of state were required to be an attorney, she said, there are nonpartisan groups and events he could have attended for continuing- legal-education credit.
"From the public's perspective, it (the trip) appears to be an opportunity to rub elbows with, strategize with and network with other members of your party," Nadler said. "That comes down to looking very political and not very related to the public good."
It also doesn't help that the documents Gessler submitted for reimbursement from the discretionary fund refer to the "RNLA/RNC" trip, she said.
"The public perception could very easily be that his goal was to go to the RNC," Nadler said
The spending of previous Secretary of State Buescher, a Democrat who lost to Gessler in 2010, ranged from $828 in expenses for himself and six employees to attend a summer conference of Colorado's county clerks in 2009 to $1,052 spent on a county clerks association conference in the winter of 2010 to cover Buescher and four other employees. Some expenses were for printing costs or other items purchased by the office, such as $103 to buy award plaques from the National Association of Secretaries of State.
Buescher spent $150 on an entrance fee for an annual golf tournament to benefit law-student scholarships at the University of Colorado and the University of Denver.
There were also a variety of expenses for office parties and functions, such as $56.15 on a party for a retiring employee in 2008.
Buescher's expenses also included many meals with staff, lawmakers, lobbyists and attorneys.
Buescher, who now works as a deputy attorney general for Suthers, whose office defends Gessler, has declined to comment on secretary-of-state matters.
Buescher's expenses were similar to those of other current officeholders, who also appear to not have used their discretionary accounts for any party-affiliated functions.
Tim Hoover: 303-954-1626, thoover@denverpost.com or twitter.com/timhoover
Copyright 2012 The Denver Post. All rights reserved.
Copyright 2012 The Denver Post. All rights reserved.
Copyright 2012 The Denver Post. All rights reserved.
Copyright 2012 The Denver Post. All rights reserved.
Copyright 2012 The Denver Post. All rights reserved.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Copyright 2012 The Denver Post. All rights reserved.
Copyright 2012 The Denver Post. All rights reserved.
