Secretary of State Bernie Buescher turned down a request filed on the behalf of Clear the Bench Colorado last week to write a new rule categorizing the group as an issue committee. Clear the Bench is presently registered as an issue committee but a complaint filed by government watchdog group Colorado Ethics Watch argued that the group is actually a political committee because it is advocating not for any single issue but rather against retaining Colorado Supreme Court justices. At stake is funding: Issue committees can collect unlimited sums from individual donors; political committee individual donations are capped at roughly $500. Ethics Watch argues that inviting unchecked money into judicial races invites corruption and goes against the will of the voters.