Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams wears a $475 cowboy hat to Denver Rustlers events. He wore $349.80 tuxedo pants and $699.60 dress boots to a cybersecurity conference in 2015.

These expenses are public information because Williams charged them to his state office. He paid for them out of the office’s $5,000 discretionary fund, an annual perk enshrined in state law.

Suzanne Staiert, deputy secretary of state, said the clothing items are related to official functions Williams attended.

“He wouldn’t otherwise buy those things except for official activities he has to attend that require that kind of attire,” she said.

The cowboy attire is tied to Williams’ involvement with the Denver Rustlers, a nonprofit that raises money for youth exhibitors at the Colorado State Fair Champion Junior Livestock Sale. A tradition since 1984, the nonprofit’s participants include civic leaders and government officials from both parties.

Williams also spent $327 on boot-cut travel jeans in 2016.

The black-tie attire was purchased ahead of a cybersecurity conference in which the office’s work was recognized, Staiert said.

Jane Feldman, a former executive director of the Colorado Independent Ethics Commission, said the discretionary fund is supposed to be used for state business.

“If he was buying T-shirts for every member of his staff to wear on Election Day saying ‘Colorado Secretary of State,’ that might be appropriate, but this sounds like it’s for personal use,” she said. “That’s my gut feeling.”

The law gives officials a fair amount of leeway, allowing expenditures in “pursuance of official business as each elected official sees fit.” Each Colorado constitutional officer gets a discretionary fund. The fund is $5,000 apiece for the attorney general, lieutenant governor and state treasurer. The governor gets $20,000.

The money for the Secretary of State’s discretionary fund comes from fees paid to the office for services like business and campaign filings.

Historically, officials have used the fund for purposes such as ceremonial pens for bill-signing ceremonies, continuing education and staff office parties.

Former Republican Secretary of State Scott Gessler faced an ethics complaint for misappropriating money from the discretionary fund. The commission fined him after he used about $1,300 on a 2012 trip to the Republican National Lawyers Association seminar in Florida.