Lakewood, Colorado, June 20, 2008

Contact: Dick Barkey, Chair, Jefferson County Democratic Party

303-808-8504

Colorado Attorney General John Suthers and Colorado Secretary of State, Michael Coffman, both Republicans have decided to ignore three violations of state law by the Jefferson County Republican party.

Republicans in Jefferson County are apparently having great difficulty finding candidates to run against Democratic incumbents in two Colorado House Districts and one State Senate District. Candidates nominated by the Jefferson County Republicans at their assembly this spring withdrew leaving the Democrats without opposition. Jefferson County Republicans rushed to find candidates after the legal deadline for filing designated replacement nominees..

When official nominees withdraw, Colorado law establishes a deadline of 68 days before the primary election date for political parties to name replacement candidates. Such replacement candidates must be selected through a properly established vacancy committee. The 68 day deadline was June 5, 2008.

Jefferson County Republicans missed that deadline when they filed forms with the Secretary of State Elections Division on June 11 th for House District 23 and June 13 th for House District 29 and State Senate District 21. In an effort to paper over the errors by Jeffco Republicans, Bill Hobbs, Deputy to Secretary of State Mike Coffman along with Maurice Knaizer, Deputy to Attorney General John Suthers put together a legal rationale for overlooking the procedural violations. In a special statement released by the Secretary of State on June 17 th, both parties were retroactively given until 5:00pm on June 12 to designate their replacement candidates.

Two of the three Republican filings missed even the extended date. One of the Republican House District vacancy committees, House District 29, did not meet until June 13 th according to papers filed that day. Then, while there are over 23,000 registered Republicans in Colorado Senate District 21, only four of those voters selected Natalie Menten to run for that seat. The way in which the vacancy committees were assembled raises questions about how the Jefferson County Republicans are selecting candidates.

Speaking on behalf of the Jefferson County Democratic Party, Dick Barkey, County Party Chair said, "Our incumbent Democratic state representatives and senators do not want opponents to be blocked from the ballot. Our county party believes that democracy is best served by the strong and respectful discourse of a political campaign. However, we also believe that the public needs to be fully informed about how their public officials are nominated and they need to know when elected officials like Coffman and Struthers are glossing over flagrant errors by their Republican colleagues."

"In my view these questionable nomination filings reflect disrespect for the law by Jefferson County Republican Party and by the Republican Secretary of State and the Republican Attorney General. If the Republicans cannot comply with the law when nominating candidates to the state legislature, we naturally wonder if they will follow the law after they are elected. We are concerned that the actions of the Secretary of State and the Attorney General may have answered that question. Voters need to be fully confident that the people they elect will follow the law. "