Self-styled ethics watchdog ordered to pay ‘tens of thousands’ to judicial-reform campaign

For the second time in its four-year history, the group Colorado Ethics Watch has watched one of its trademark ethics complaints backfire after it was ordered to pay attorneys’ fees to one of its targets. An administrative law judge today threw out the group’s claims against Clear The Bench Colorado, an issue committee that seeks to oust three state Supreme Court justices on this November’s ballot.

Ethics Watch - a branch of the liberal group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington - alleged in a campaign-finance complaint that Clear the Bench had improperly registered with the secretary of state as an issue committee, allowing it to receive unlimited contributions. Clear the Bench responded that it simply was following the advice of the secretary of state’s own election regulators. Yet, Colorado Ethics Watch pressed ahead with its claim anyway in an attempt to force the kind of contribution limits on the committee that are intended for candidates seeking office.

Colorado Ethics Watch

Luis Toro

Judge Robert Spencer ordered Ethics Watch - represented by its director Luis Toro with Aaron Goldhamer of the Denver firm Sherman and Howard - to pay the legal-defense bill incurred to date by Clear The Bench. Under Colorado’s civil-litigation rules, plaintiffs are liable for the opposition’s costs when a lawsuit is not “well grounded in fact and is warranted by existing law.” CEW was fined in 2007 on similar grounds when its complaint against a different campaign committee fell flat.

“Because it was a groundless complaint, and because it did not have the proper underlying facts, the judge awarded attorneys fees,” said defense attorney Mario Nicolais, who also serves as counsel to Face The State.

“Obviously we’re not happy about that,” said Toro. “We respectfully disagree with the judge’s ruling, but he ruled what he ruled.”

Hackstaff Gessler LLC

Mario Nicolais

Toro downplayed the dismissal, saying he plans to file a “supplemental complaint” in an attempt to breathe life back into the case. Even if CEW gets a hearing on the new claims, he and Goldhamer will still be liable for coming up with the attorney’s fees granted at today’s hearing. A statement on CEW’s Web site posted today makes no mention of the fee order.

Calls and e-mails to Goldhamer, who joined the suit on a pro-bono basis, were not returned. A press release announcing his hiring suggests he’s no stranger to politics, having worked at “political action groups” and an unnamed “government watchdog organization.”

How much money is at stake? Clear The Bench is still calculating its total legal bill, but according to its lawyers, the amount owed will be in the “tens of thousands” of dollars.

Should Ethics Watch’s funders at CREW pick up that whole tab, the parent organization probably won’t have trouble finding the cash. In 2008 - the last year for which data is available from the IRS - the group reported revenue of $1.35 million.