August 25, 2006 08:28 PM UTC

Ken Gordon Awakens

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• by: Colorado Pols

It looks like somebody finally managed to awaken Democrat Ken Gordon, the secretary of state candidate who’s been asleep at the wheel as current SOS Gigi Dennis hands him the biggest election issue he could have hoped for. Dennis has been awash in controversy for changing campaign rules in the middle of the election – rules that adversely affect Democrats more than they affect Republicans.

This story has been a hot topic all week, but Gordon hasn’t said a peep about it until Lynn Bartels of the Rocky Mountain News ran a story asking both he and Republican Mike Coffman what they thought of Dennis’ new rules:

The two major-party candidates for Colorado secretary of state are critical of the current officeholder, Republican Gigi Dennis, for changing election rules in the middle of the campaign.

Democrat Ken Gordon and Republican Mike Coffman said it was unfair for Dennis to decide in August that “membership organizations” must get permission from individual members annually before their dues can be used in political campaigns.

Previously, the dues were automatically deducted and the groups, such as unions, then transferred money to small-donor committees to push for certain candidates.

It isn’t a good sign for Democrats that it took Gordon so long to act on this issue. Candidates for secretary of state don’t normally get many opportunities for free press, and those opportunites can’t be passed up.