Coloradoan finally reports on FEC's clearance of Paccione, after Colorado Media Matters items

Written by Media Matters Staff

Published

Following two Colorado Media Matters items documenting the failure of the Fort Collins Coloradoan to report that 4th Congressional District candidate Rep. Angie Paccione (D) was cleared of a Republican complaint filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), the Coloradoan finally reported the matter September 9.

Following two Colorado Media Matters items documenting the failure of the Fort Collins Coloradoan to report that 4th Congressional District candidate Rep. Angie Paccione (D) was cleared of a Republican complaint filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), the Coloradoan finally reported the matter September 9. As Colorado Media Matters noted September 5 and again September 7, the Greeley Tribune and Coloradoan previously had published stories covering the complaint against Paccione, but neither had reported she had been cleared.

On August 30, the Rocky Mountain News website published an Associated Press story noting that the FEC cleared the Paccione campaign of campaign fraud charges. The AP story also was published August 31 on the website of the Boulder Daily Camera. The Tribune posted the AP story on its website the evening of September 6.

The AP story reported that the FEC “recently” cleared “Paccione of charges that she improperly offered potential campaign donors gifts” and that the FEC “dismissed the matter, saying Paccione took immediate action to retract the offer.” The article also noted that, “Paccione's campaign spokesman James Thompson said the charges were politically motivated and the FEC decision proves they were 'frivolous'.”

In its September 9 “In Brief” section, the Coloradoan reported, “The Federal Election Commission cleared Democrat Angie Paccione last month of charges she improperly offered potential campaign donors gifts.”

According to the FEC, the complaint about an allegedly illegal email was dismissed July 14. In an August 28 statement, the FEC wrote, “Once she [Paccione] learned of the e-mail's existence, she sent a follow-up e-mail roughly three hours and forty-five minutes later retracting the first e-mail. In light of the action taken by the respondents and the fact that the offer never came to fruition, the Commission exercised its prosecutorial discretion and dismissed the matter.”

As Colorado Media Matters noted, the Coloradoan had not previously covered the story of the FEC's decision despite having reported allegations that led to the complaint.

In a February 25 article by reporter Lindsay Renick Mayer, the Coloradoan reported that Paccione's opponent, Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-Fort Morgan), called the email “some of the worst political corruption she has seen in state politics.” The article further reported that:

The dispute surrounds [an email] brochure that offers rewards to fundraising teams involved in Paccione's campaign. According to the brochure - which Paccione said was a draft that hadn't yet received her approval - the reward for the second-place team is a day at the statehouse and an introduction on the House floor.

Such introductions are traditional and allow members to introduce constituents during the first half hour of every session in the House.

From the September 9 Coloradoan article, “FEC clears Rep. Paccione”:

The Federal Election Commission cleared Democrat Angie Paccione last month of charges she improperly offered potential campaign donors gifts.

Republicans filed the complaint earlier this year, claiming an e-mail from the Paccione campaign illegally offered trips and other prizes in exchange for donations of at least $5,000.

The FEC dismissed the complaint because Paccione had not authorized the offers and sent an e-mail retracting the offer within four hours of it being sent. It also said the offers “never came to fruition.”