April 18, 2012 06:54 PM UTC

"Tea Party" Not Above The Law, Much To Their Surprise

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• by: Colorado Pols

As the Grand Junction Sentinel’s Charles Ashby reports:

A southern Colorado tea party group is providing a lesson to similar organizations in what not to do when it comes to campaign finances.

Don’t contribute money directly to candidates unless you create a political donor committee with the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office. And if you don’t do that, then don’t ignore subpoenas when a complaint is filed against you.

All that happened to the Southern Colorado Tea Party, which now faces up to $18,000 in fines and attorney fees as a result of those multiple failures, said the attorney who filed a campaign-finance complaint two years ago against the group.

“The penalty that is proposed is appropriate here because the message that it sends will be heard by other groups that do this as well,” said Mark Grueskin, attorney for Pueblo resident Dr. Malik Hasan, a well-known political donor for mostly conservative candidates. “My client just wants to make the statement that these groups must comply with the law.”

Adds the Pueblo Chieftain’s Patrick Malone:

The central question before Administrative Law Judge Matthew Norwood was whether the Southern Colorado Tea Party is a loosely organized social group or clunky political machine subject to campaign finance rules.

“I don’t understand the separation of the Tea Party from the populace,” former Southern Colorado Tea Party Chairman Sheldon Bloedorn of Pueblo West said.

Bloedorn cast the group as a community organization that backs likeminded candidates committed to low taxes, small government, constitutional literalism and other conservative values.

“Ours was an organization just like a bowling league, a community organization,” he said.

The biggest problem for the Southern Colorado Tea Party appears to be their donations to candidates they endorsed such as 2010 GOP gubernatorial nominee Dan Maes and GOP treasurer candidate J.J. Ament. That and their prominent candidate endorsement section on their website, and even a link to a donation page for the Colorado Republican Party. Ashby and Malone report that the two leaders of the group who were subpoenaed simply failed to appear in court, resulting in threats to prosecute them for contempt and a summary judgment. Yesterday’s court hearing was to argue over the amount they will be forced to pay.

The complaint was filed almost two years ago on behalf of Malik Hasan, father of 2010 GOP treasurer candidate Ali Hasan. You might recall that Ali and his family complained bitterly about racist whispers against his campaign originating from the Southern Colorado Tea Party.

For all of these reasons, the “bowling league” argument is just another insult.