Denver Post:

Republican Secretary of State Gigi Dennis made controversial changes to Colorado campaign-finance rules after requests from lawyers who work for the state GOP, gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez and a powerful Republican political committee, records show.

The attorneys filed documents with Dennis' office in February requesting limitations on the campaign activities of some traditionally Democratic groups, such as unions and small-donor committees.

Dennis, who said Wednesday that politics played no role in her decisionmaking, adopted some of those proposals after a public hearing.

"I thought it was a good idea to have transparency in the election process," she said. "How can you say it's motivated politically when it's consistent across the board? It affects both Republican and Democratic memberships."

She said the issue was first broached by the two lawyers, not by citizen complaints. She said about 90 percent of all campaign-finance rule changes arise from candidates, lawyers and individual citizens.

The rules were published on the Internet. Democrats attended the June hearing and opposed the changes.