Months after the state finished its congressional and legislative redistricting, a complaint alleging illegal redistricting lobbying by a group of local Republican operatives has been dismissed, with an administrative law judge concluding the complaint did not have merit.

The complaint alleged that members of Colorado Neighborhood Coalition lobbied redistricting commissioners without proper disclosure. One employee of Colorado Neighborhood Coalition, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization that doesn’t disclose its donors, had registered as a lobbyist for the group, but the complaint alleged that, because other paid employees of the group held meetings with redistricting commissioners, they, too, needed to register as lobbyists for the group.

The administrative law judge ruled that no evidence was presented to support the claims.

The ruling noted that the attorneys working for the Secretary of State’s Office, which referred the case to its election division for a full investigation, failed to indicate during a hearing in February which violations their investigation yielded.

“The ALJ raised the fact that there had been no proper charging document. Specifically, there was no allegation that the respondents had done anything wrong,” the ruling said. “That the evidence ‘suggests’ a violation, is not a ‘claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.'”

The Secretary of State’s attorneys filed an amended notice of referral and complaint, but the administrative law judge still concluded the evidence they presented insufficiently supported their claims. 

“No violations of any Secretary of State rule have been proven,” the ruling said. “The deficiency in proof in this case relates to the connection between the facts alleged and whether they establish that CNC paid the respondents to advocate for any particular mapping approach. The evidence supplied did not establish such a connection.”

The Republicans accused of lobbying violations in the now-dismissed case said the administrative law judge’s finding shows that the referral of the complaint by the Colorado Secretary of State’s office, which is led by Democrat Jena Griswold, was politically motivated.

Frank McNulty, a former Colorado House Speaker and Colorado Neighborhood Coalition’s registered agent, called the complaint, lodged by former Democratic lawmaker Stanley Matsunaka, an attempt to “intimate Republicans who want to participate in the (redistricting) process.”

In response, the Secretary of State’s Office said it had no choice, as it is required to refer lobbying-related complaints to an administrative law judge because of how the state’s redistricting laws are written. 

“Constitutional provisions in Amendments Y and Z require a referral to the OAC when redistricting lobbying complaints are filed with the office,” Secretary of State spokesperson Annie Orloff wrote in an email. “This is in contrast to other lobbying or campaign finance complaints that can be dismissed by the Deputy Secretary of State or their designee during the complaint process.”

Orloff noted that the office has also referred a redistricting lobbying complaint targeting an employee of the Colorado Latino Leadership, Advocacy & Research Organization.

The constitutional amendments that created the state’s independent redistricting commission instruct the Secretary of State to “adopt rules to facilitate the complete and prompt reporting,” as well as a complaint process to address “any lobbyist’s failure to report a full and accurate disclosure.” The same section says that complaint “must be heard by an administrative law judge, whose decision may be appealed to the court of appeals.” 

The use of the word “must” in the amendments means every complaint has to be referred to an administrative law judge for adjudication, the Secretary of State’s spokesperson wrote.

Christopher Jackson, an attorney specializing in Colorado election law, said the wording of the constitutional amendment puts the Secretary of State’s Office in a difficult position.

“The language in the constitution does seem to require the Secretary of State to refer any lobbying complaint related to redistricting, whether the office believes it has merit,” Jackson said. “It says they must be heard, not may be heard by an ALJ, so I think they may be stuck between a rock and hard place.”

In 2018, a federal judge struck down a portion of Colorado’s campaign finance enforcement mechanism because it similarly required all campaign finance complaints to be referred to an administrative law judge. The ruling in that case found that the enforcement mechanism, which was also part of a voter-approved constitutional amendment, violated the First Amendment right to free speech.