Outside groups enter money race

Conservative outside groups are jumping into the gubernatorial money race to bolster Republican candidate Walker Stapleton’s campaign against much wealthier Democrat Jared Polis.

Polis, an entrepreneur and congressman from Boulder, is selffunding his campaign, which has already spent $18.06 million. That’s well above the spending of Stapleton, the state treasurer. In comparison, Stapleton’s campaign has spent $2.2 million so far.

But money from outside groups is making up for some of that imbalance. ProStapleton outside groups have put at least $12.2 million into the governor’s race, nearly twice the $6.5 million that proPolis groups have put in at this point, according to filings with the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office.

Outside spending can help candidates, but only so far. The candidates are prohibited from directing or coordinating with outside spending groups and therefore have no control over the ads they release. By virtue of his larger war chest, Polis is going to be able to spend far more running his own television ads.

For instance, the Republican

Governors Association put up an attack ad right after Labor Day accusing Polis of not paying taxes and parking money offshore. By the end of the next day, the Polis campaign had cut and was running its own TV ad hitting back against the suggestion that he was a tax scofflaw.

The Republican Governors Association is Stapleton’s biggest ally so far and has put $4 million toward ads backing him.

Others contributing toward the $12.2 million proStapleton total include Americans for Prosperity, part of the conservative Koch network, which has paid and volunteer canvassers knocking on doors from Grand Junction to Denver. The initial AFP investment will be six figures, though it could go higher.

AFP’s Colorado state director, Jesse Mallory, said the budget is “always a moving target.”

Better Colorado Now, another conservative group, says it will spend several million on digital and television ads, canvassers and direct mail. The political action committee had a fundraiser for Stapleton in August 2017, before he officially announced his run for governor. Like other political action committees, Better Colorado Now provides a way for donors to legally give more than the $1,150 limit that applies to a candidate’s official campaign.

The biggest outside contributor to Polis’ cause is Good Jobs Colorado, which has received $2.8 million in contributions. Half a million came from State Victory Action, a North Carolinabased nonprofit political organization. State Victory Action’s top donors include billionaire George Soros and megadonor Tom Steyer’s NextGen Climate Action Committee.

The Sierra Club and the Service Employees International Union are both backing Polis, citing his clean energy and laborfriendly policies.

The lineup on both sides includes donors who have come to represent influence in American politics.

“If you’re on the left, you think Tom Steyer is a great American and Charles Koch is corrupting our political system, and if you’re on the opposite side, you have the opposite formulation,” said Eric Sondermann, a political analyst and longtime observer of Colorado politics.

RGA spokesman Jon Thompson said Polis’ selffunding and the spending of megadonors on the other side are among “many factors” that the group keeps an eye on while investing in the race. Getting the message out needs to continue no matter what the other side does, Thompson said.

“You’re going to continue to see us doing that, regardless of what Jared Polis is doing or Tom Steyer is doing or George Soros is doing,” he said.

Dark money — the common term for money that comes from organizations not required to disclose donors — is also playing a major role in the outside spending. The Sixteen Thirty Fund has given $920,000 toward Good Jobs Colorado’s efforts to boost Polis. One of the fund’s biggest donors in 2016 was Demand Progress Action, a group that, like Polis, is concerned about warrantless spying on Americans.

On the Republican side, the Colorado Taxpayers Advocate Fund has given $900,000 to Better Colorado Now and Coloradans for Fiscal Responsibility, two political action committees supporting Stapleton. The Colorado Taxpayers Advocate Fund and Stapleton both shared a common goal in 2016: the defeat of Colorado Amendment 69, which would have created a singlepayer universal health care system. Stapleton called it risky and unsustainable before voters defeated it.

Money of all varieties — campaign, outside and dark — will keep flowing in the final six weeks of the campaign for governor.

“Politics inflates at a pace that far outstrips normal inflation and the normal cost of living,” Sondermann said.