Face The State Staff Report
Mollie Cullom, the Democrat running for state House District 39 in Centennial, has begun paying her husband, James Cullom, a salary to help run her campaign.
On her July 19th campaign finance report with the Colorado Secretary of State, the candidate recorded a $1,500 expense to her husband for “campaign management.” James “Jim” Cullom is listed on his wife’s Web site as her campaign manager. He served the same role during her 2006 campaign, in which she ran for the same office. But in 2006, James Cullom did not bill his wife’s campaign for his services.
Secretary of State filings
“Even though nepotism might be allowed, it certainly raises questions of ethics and impropriety,” said John Holcomb, a professor of business ethics and legal studies at the University of Denver. Hiring family members with campaign funds is not prohibited under Colorado election law.
Colorado statute does not explicitly prohibit nepotism in public employment, but members of the General Assembly, once elected, are expected to submit a written request to the Board of Ethics to determine any potential conflict of interest that could arise from hiring family. If Mollie Cullom were elected and continued to employ her husband as an aide, those rules would apply to her.
Holcomb points out that similar ethical issues often arise in the corporate world where it is not uncommon for spouses to work in the same office, but he said one usually ends up being transferred. “Improperly lining your own pockets from the same till looks suspicious,” he said.
The issue is not new to Colorado politics.
In 2004, the Federal Election Commission investigated former U.S. Congressman Scott McInnis, a Grand Junction Republican, for using campaign committee funds to pay his wife a salary. From 2001 to 2005, McInnis paid his wife more than $145,000, with payments continuing even after he announced, in the summer of 2003, that he would not seek another term. The story broke in November 2004. A year later the FEC dropped the charges and at the time McInnis told the Rocky Mountain News Democrats had filed the complaint “simply for harassment.”
The issue has since followed McInnis. It came up in 2005 when he was considering a run for governor, and once more in 2007, when McInnis's name was mentioned to replace retiring U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard. At the time, U.S. Rep. Mark Udall, D-Eldorado Springs, now a candidate for Allard’s seat, ran a bill that would prohibit candidates or their immediate family from drawing salaries from campaign committees for campaign-related work. Republicans suspected the move was meant to remind voters of McInnis’s past offense.
Eileen Brady, who resides in Centennial and contributed $50 to Mollie Cullom’s campaign, defended the expense. “I don’t have a problem with that,” she said. “If [James Cullom] is helping her, then he deserves to be paid.”
According to the employee database maintained by the Denver County School District, James Cullom is a teacher at Green Valley Elementary School. He declined to comment for this story saying only that he and his wife have decided “it is not the right time to talk about the finances of the campaign.” James Cullom’s online profile at LinkedIn.com lists “Cullom for Colorado” as his current employer and “Campaign Manager” as his job title. It makes no mention of his teaching position. Mollie Cullom’s Web site says she is a licensed social worker with the Cherry Creek School District’s mental health team.
In lieu of hiring a campaign manager, most candidates typically stick to paying for professional services like consulting, Web site design or polling. They rely heavily on volunteer efforts for the nuts and bolts work of the campaign, like going door-to-door and sending out mail.
This is Mollie Cullom’s third time running for state House. She is running against Rep. David Balmer, R-Centennial, whom she lost to in 2004 and 2006. Other notable items billed to “Cullom for Colorado” include $30 for a taxi in Washington D.C., $101 for meals in Washington D.C., and $110 for "advertising" with the Off Broadway Academy, a dance studio for children ages 3 to 17.