Signature-gathering lawsuit goes to trial

A trial that began Monday in Denver District Court could have a lasting impact on the way candidates get onto the primary ballot in Colorado.

The case centers around a mess that unfolded in the spring of 2018, when thenstate Treasurer Walker Stapleton abruptly withdrew from the Republican primary ballot for governor. He accused the firm he hired to get him on that ballot of hiding — possibly for weeks — that one of its subcontractors broke state law by employing people who couldn’t legally gather signatures in Colorado.

Stapleton qualified for the ballot at the state assembly a few days after he pulled himself off the ballot, but his attorney, Stan Garnett, told the court Monday morning that the whole incident was “a huge distraction” that required “a huge use of resources” to fix. He asked the judge to return the $260,614 Stapleton’s campaign paid Dan Kennedy’s firm, Kennedy Enterprises, plus damages.

Kennedy’s attorney, Susan Klopman, argued that “there was no willful misconduct under the contract” because Kennedy found out about the alleged “shadow gatherers” around the same time Stapleton’s campaign did “from different channels.”

“He caused his own damages by taking his name off the ballot,” Klopman said.

The trial, which will be decided by a judge, is expected to last through Thursday and will come down to what the judge believes Kennedy knew about one particular petition gatherer named Daniel Velasquez, who was allegedly caught on tape by another Republican campaign admitting to gathering signatures even though he knew he and others who worked with him couldn’t legally do so.

Stapleton’s gubernatorial campaign manager, Michael Fortney, told the judge that Kennedy repeatedly assured him Velasquez never worked on Stapleton’s campaign until weeks after they’d submitted their signatures to the Secretary of State’s Office and only after Fortney confronted him with a deposition from another petition gatherer who swore he worked with Velasquez.

“It’s hard to believe that someone could come up with an answer in 10 minutes when he couldn’t in the 30 days before,” Fortney said.

Stapleton isn’t the only Colorado candidate to run into trouble gathering signatures to get on the ballot.

In 2016, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Jon Keyser’s primary race derailed after one of his signature gatherers was accused of forging names on his petitions. And U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado Springs, had to go to federal court to get back onto the 2018 ballot after the state Supreme Court barred him. Lamborn and Stapleton were both accused of using Velasquez to gather signatures.

“These problems completely derailed other campaigns,” Garnett said during his opening statement.

The problems also changed the law in Colorado. State lawmakers removed both the residency and party affiliation requirements for signature gatherers during the 2019 legislative session.

“I think those are really good steps in the right direction,” Kennedy said.