Twenty Years Ago this week in The Colorado Statesman … Republican Secretary of State Victoria Buckley found herself under a bit of a microscope with the legislative branch.

Buckley was forced to defend her campaign’s actions, coming under fire by the Colorado General Assembly’s Audit Committee. The state auditor had released a report finding that Buckley had accepted campaign contributions from organizations and individuals the secretary of state’s office was responsible for regulating: bingo and raffle operators.

Serving her first term at the time, Buckley took issue with the auditor’s recommendation that she not solicit or accept contributions from people she regulated. Neither the state constitution nor Colorado election laws prohibited such things, Buckley said. In her opinion, this included the incident she was being criticized for: accepting proceeds from a $500-per-couple fundraiser thrown by lobbyist Freda Poundstone. Some of the people Poundstone had invited to the event were bingo and raffle operators as well as the landlords of properties where those games were played.

State Sen. Rob Hernandez, D-Denver, a member of the Audit Committee, said that while they may not be, such acts should be made illegal, but his words seemed to fall on deaf ears among his colleagues. The committee took no action on the performance audit of Buckley’s office, instead opting to move on.

The concern, Hernandez contended, was a public perception of wrongdoing, even though such activities by candidates may have not been unlawful. He said that perception was a major reason for voters’ approval of Amendment 15, the stiff campaign reform law.

Amendment 15 superseded a weaker campaign finance reform bill passed by the state Legislature in 1995. The chief sponsor of that legislation, state Sen. Tilman Bishop, R-Grand Junction, was also a member of the Audit Committee during the Buckley hearing. He threw the ball right back into Buckley’s court.

“Like all of us,” Bishop said, “it’s up to you to decide what is appropriate and what is not appropriate.”

Buckley testified before the committee that she disagreed with the auditor’s conclusion that a person seeking a license might not get it – or face stiffer regulation – by refusing to give to her campaign.

“The statement that a contribution could make a licensee believe they would not be regulated equally to any other licensee is purely far-reaching and speculative in nature,” she said.

On an unrelated issue, Buckley also disagreed with another of the auditor’s recommendations that she re-evaluate, and possibly halt, a system of providing county clerks with voter registration information.

She stated that the system was devised by county clerks in response to a previous auditor recommendation and after a history of arguments between the counties and the state.

… Several welfare bills lined the docket …

According to state House Speaker Chuck Berry, R-Colorado Springs, the “one size fits all” welfare regulation standards no longer fit Colorado.

Berry and state Sen. Mike Coffman, R-Aurora, held a Capitol press conference to reveal that they intended to produce similar – but slightly different – bills on welfare reform at the opening of the 1997 legislative session.

“We are generally in agreement, but do not totally agree on all points of the comprehensive legislation,” Berry said.

The major difference was Berry’s proposition turned over every welfare decision to Colorado’s 63 counties, while Coffman wanted to set some benefit guidelines that counties had to meet.

The two bills, dubbed “Colorado Works”, were close enough that Berry and Coffman co-sponsored each other’s legislation. Coffman stated that there would be separate bills on child care, immigration and merit pay for welfare employees.

The package included a welfare reform bill recommended by Gov. Roy Romer, which responded  to federal legislation that gave block grants to states to run their own welfare programs. The federal law contained a provision that welfare recipients must go back to work within two years.

Berry and Coffman proposed funneling the block grant money on to the counties. Romer, according to Coffman, would give block grants to counties only for education and job training.

Finding jobs for welfare recipients was perhaps the biggest stumbling block. Coffman said those on welfare might also be offered a community service option and that each county “must be guided by its own economic environment.”

Berry said he also expected counties to set welfare benefits that are about the same, so “benefit shopping” wouldn’t be an issue.

Coffman outlined his plan hypothetically, speculating a welfare recipient might get a minimum wage job, but still get some child care help by paying a nominal sum, and might also get a reduced number of food stamps.

… Ten Years Ago … To great fanfare, freshly elected U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter, D-CO7, nabbed a choice committee assignment. Perlmutter was informed he would be assigned to the influential House Financial Services Committee on the same week a reception was held to unveil a painting which would hang in his Washington D.C. office.

“I am extremely honored and humbled,” said Perlmutter. “I look forward to crafting bipartisan solutions on issues ranging from community development to ensuring our country’s capital markets remain strong.”

Perlmutter’s spokesman, Scott Chase, said the assignment was an indication of the congressman-elect’s “expertise.”

“He’s going to be able to hit the ground running with his background in financial services,” Chase said.

The committee, which oversaw the U.S. Federal Reserve, the U.S. Treasury, the Securities and Exchange Commission and also worked on matters relating to insurance, housing, securities and banking, was a real coupe for Perlmutter according to his supporters at the event.

Chase pointed to community development, affordable housing, oversight for government and financial programs like Fannie Mae, and rising foreclosure rates as areas where Perlmutter would focus on helping his constituents in the 7th Congressional District.

“He wants to make sure there’s proper oversight from the federal level so that perhaps people will be able to find some more ways to perhaps avoid foreclosures,” said Chase.

Despite his assurance that Perlmutter would find himself with other committee assignments, Chase said that since the workload for Financial Services would likely be enormous, Perlmutter wouldn’t be actively looking for any other assignments.

Chase added that House leadership had indicated “they would like (Financial Services) to be his sole deal. Right now he’s just going to focus on that.”

Among all the chatter about his new position, supporters didn’t forget to give Perlmutter his new painting of South Table Mesa – a well-known landmark in the district – which had been commissioned by supporter Greg Stevinson. The artist was John David Phillips, also a resident of the district.