From the High Timber Times (Conifer):  An ethics watchdog group has called for state campaign finance reform in the wake of the release of contribution figures from the Jeffco school district’s contentious recall election.

While any change to the Colorado Constitution, which specifies how elections are conducted, would require a statewide vote, Peg Perl, senior counsel for Colorado Ethics Watch, said Colorado legislators can take several steps to bring more transparency to local elections, including:

• Approve a measure allowing recall elections to be treated like regular candidate elections, which would subject the groups involved to more stringent disclosure rules.

• Adjust campaign finance disclosure requirements to apply to odd-year elections. Currently, laws such as the electioneering communications laws — which require financial disclosure for any ad that mentions a candidate’s name in the last 60 days before an election — are in play only during even-year races.

In the recent Jeffco recall campaign, both sides used funding methods that concealed donors’ identities and allowed so-called “dark money” to pour in, sometimes from out-of-state groups. Perl said local elections are receiving more attention nationwide than they did in the past.

“(A local race) now, it’s really seen as a battleground, both on issues and in terms of parties and the people who (support them) …,” Perl said. “These are high profile.”

As a result, she said, it’s time for Colorado to re-examine the role school board elections play in statewide politics.

Recall elections in Colorado are governed by the same rules as for ballot measures, as opposed to the rules that apply to candidates for office — meaning that some limitations on the groups backing or opposing candidates aren’t in play.

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