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September 09, 2010 02:23 AM UTC

Buck's FEC Complaint Not Going Away

  • 20 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE: Here’s Jane Norton (video clip right) commenting on this complaint in particular, and other allegations against Buck, during a Senate debate in July–“trust matters.”

Following up on a story we discussed last week, the Colorado Independent’s John Tomasic updates on the odd attempt by supporters of defeated Senate candidate Jane Norton to make their FEC complaint against Ken Buck over fundraising irregularities vanish:

Charles Rick Grice last week sent a letter to the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) seeking to withdraw a headline-grabbing campaign finance complaint he filed this summer against Republican U.S. Senate candidate Ken Buck. Not so fast, says political campaign and government watchdog group Colorado Ethics Watch. The group sent its own letter to the FEC Wednesday (pdf) calling on the FEC to disregard Grice’s request and to continue its investigation into the complaint.

“The Commission’s rules make no provision for withdrawal of a complaint after filing, and for good reason,” Ethics Watch Director Luis Toro wrote. “Allowing individuals to withdraw complaints would encourage the filing of meritless complaints for tactical reasons, only to be withdrawn later when the political landscape changed.”

…In his letter to Jeff Jordan, supervisory attorney with the complaints examination and legal administration office at the FEC, Toro underlines that Grice has never backed away from the charges he made against Buck.

“Mr. Grice was required to sign his complaint under penalty of perjury. Nothing in his August 30 letter [requesting to withdraw the complaint] suggests that he no longer believes the facts alleged in his complaint were true. Under these circumstances, we urge the Commission to disregard Mr. Grice’s request to withdraw the complaint, fully investigate the matters alleged therein, and promptly issue a reasoned determination whether to proceed.”

So that’s that. Why again did Charles Grice draw all this attention to a virtually forgotten complaint by bringing it back up again? The world will perhaps never know, but thanks to Grice’s lame “nothing to see here” move to quash it, it’s certain to remain a discussion item all the way through the elections. As you can see, Democrats are more than happy to pick up where he left off. Ethics Watch director Luis Toro confirms our point on such complaints–they don’t just get dismissed because the person the filer wanted to win the primary didn’t. Because that would be ridiculous.

Below the fold, a press release from the liberal coalition Strong Colorado, calling on Buck to release the document he was required to file with the FEC defending himself from Grice’s charges–says director Ellen Dumm, “If Ken Buck wants the public’s trust, he should have the integrity to release his defense against these serious allegations. He says he wants to change politics…here’s the perfect opportunity for him to be transparent and tell us how his campaign knew there were Washington interests working on his behalf.”

September 8, 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Ellen Dumm, 303 810-4370, ellen@strongcolorado.org

Buck Should Release Federal Elections Violation Documents

Campaign for a Strong Colorado is calling for Republican U.S. Senate candidate Ken Buck to make public Federal Election Commission documents about allegations that his campaign violated federal election law.

Charles “Rick” Grice, a supporter of Buck’s primary challenger Jane Norton, originally filed the violations complaint during the primary campaign. The complaint asks the FEC to investigate possible illegal coordination with three outside groups to get around federal campaign contribution limits.

Grice asked last week that his complaint be withdrawn because he no longer wishes to pursue the matter and now supports Buck because “he’s the Republican candidate now.”

Colorado Ethics Watch today asked the FEC to continue the investigation because serious questions were raised in the original complaint that should be resolved, regardless of Grice’s wishes.

“Strong Colorado applauds Ethics Watch for pursuing the issue to its conclusion. This matter likely will not be finalized until well after the election, so in the interest of full disclosure, Buck should release his defense against the allegations,” said Ellen Dumm, Director of Campaign for a Strong Colorado.

“If Ken Buck wants the public’s trust, he should have the integrity to release his defense against these serious allegations. He says he wants to change politics….here’s the perfect opportunity for him to be transparent and tell us how his campaign knew there were Washington interests working on his behalf,” said Dumm.

As Jane Norton said after the complaint was filed: “Trust matters. This election is about who can we trust to go back to Washington on our behalf.”

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20 thoughts on “Buck’s FEC Complaint Not Going Away”

      1. Ken’s focus on returning Colorado and our Nation to a pro-jobs growth model is one that denies DC spending addicts their ever increasing supply of the citizen’s cash. Like John Hickenlooper and Tom Tancredo, Ken knows that responsible leaders need to be accountable for government management.

        As a leading figure supporting Northern Colorado’s Latino community, Ken’s seen the effects of failed Democrat policies. Tired of the despair caused by ever growing government programs, Ken is leading with compassion, accountability and justice.

        As the first candidate for the U.S. Senate from Colorado to sign the Americans for Tax Reform’s Taxpayer Protection Pledge, you can be assured Ken Buck will not vote for tax increases.

        Ken knows we are not under-taxed. It’s simple, the federal government is overspending. And as the endless string of spending in Congress continues, so will the call for higher taxes.

        As the push for higher taxes emerges, Ken Buck will be the Colorado Senator leading the effort to downsize government, not raise taxes.

  2. You yourself said these complaints take forever. Sen. Buck will be laughing at this by then. Voters don’t care about where this money comes from, in fact they are tired of Democrats trying to choke the free speech of any person or group who opposes them!

    Bennet’s not the shortest Senate career in history, is he? There was the guy who filled in for Ted Kennedy until Massachusetts elected a Republican.

    2. How many Republicans will you and Buck attract with your “Brown vs. Board of Education was a horrible decision” racist strategy?

      Do you think the rest of Colorado hates minorities as much as you do? I think your whole “Secure the white vote first” strategy could backfire.

      2. always bring race into the conversation. Why is that?  Do you not respect the great Republican, Dr. Martin Luther King?  He’d be pissed at the libs of today.

    3. Voters don’t care about where this money comes from…

      I think they do. But–that’s not what the complaint was about, and you are trying to change the subject.

      The complaint was not about just “where this money comes from,” but rather whether Buck conspired to violate the law. Voters do care about that, and they should. So should you.  Let the process work to find out the truth.

    1. He is a better businessman than politician and should go back to the corporate world. I think he got into politics out of Democrat guilt for being successful.

  4. Why HASN’T Buck released his response to the charges?

    In fact, why can’t any one of us file a Freedom of Information Act Request to get a copy of Buck’s response from the FEC? Why should it be deemed confidential? Criminal records normally aren’t. Civil case records normally aren’t.

    Makes one wonder whether Buck is hiding something.

    And Grice’s attempt to drop his complaint is just plain ludicrous. It’d be like an assault victim being allowed to withdraw a complaint: the opportunities for intimidation or bribery are obvious.

    Let the complaint be fully investigated and let the chips fall where they may. And after all is said and done Buck can “laugh” at this, as GOPWarrior claims he will, fine. But if he’s guilty, he’s guilty. No one is above the law.

    1. Norton et al were pissed off that having cornered the market on insider money, much the same as Bennet did, Buck was able to compete based on the new rules of the game.  One of her supporters filled a complaint.  The establishment in DC has set up a system where complaints do not get resolved until well after the race is run.  Guess what happens?  In the words of one of your resident idiots, Luis Toro of the Colorado Ethics watch, that:

      encourage(s) the filing of meritless complaints for tactical reasons.”

      So someone files a meritless complaint against a candidate and what do we get?  Dumm press releases by other Dem suck up groups calling for Buck to release his response which is under the rules set up by the establishment, confidential.

      Do the political hacks calling for the release have integrity?  Have they called on Bennet to return the funds he received from the Banking industry when he was considering legislation regulating them?  As I recall they only think something like that applies to Suthers.

      2. Release the response files. If the complaint has no merit and Buck has nothing to hide, that ought to settle the matter, eh?

        Otherwise, your protestations fall on deaf ears.  

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