Scott Wasserman, who has led the Bell Policy Center since August 2016, will leave the liberal-leaning fiscal policy nonprofit in May to pursue other career opportunities.
“I’m still piecing what’s next together,” said Wasserman, who previously served as deputy chief of staff to then-Gov. John Hickenlooper, “but I’m looking forward to continuing the work I’ve done.”
Wasserman gave The Unaffiliated a three-questions interview as he heads into his final months leading the Bell:
The following has been edited for clarity and length.
The Unaffiliated: In your last few months at the Bell Policy Center there are going to be a lot of tax conversations going on. How do you see yourself being involved in those as you have one foot out the door?
Scott Wasserman: The property tax conversation continues to fester. I think there’s broad agreement that what happened in this assessment cycle, with property values skyrocketing, is a huge anomaly. Maybe there are some structural changes that need to be made, but they can’t be just reacting to a problem that will be in the rearview mirror by 2025. For me, the biggest thing is how do we make it so that no one can hijack the legislative process and force cuts on local communities that they can’t handle and survive? This constant threat of putting a tax cut in front of the voters keeps making the legislature overreact and do things that hurt the system. Can we land a few solid planes here so that this issue doesn’t continue to fester?
Unaffiliated: How do you land those planes, though, in an environment where you’ve got a pro-tax-cut governor in office and there are conservative groups that have outsized influence in the conversation? Is a progressive tax code really possible?
Wasserman: We just got a poll back and overwhelmingly Coloradans want to see the wealthy pay more taxes. Voters have yet to be able to vote on whether to cut taxes for 95% of Coloradans and raise them on the top 5%. It seems to me that they’ve been asked every possible question other than that question. That’s going to take political will. Colorado voters — they keep saying what they want in poll after poll, but the political leadership at the Capitol never seems to want to serve it up.
Unaffiliated: The Bell Policy Center is pursuing some progressive tax questions for the 2024 ballot. Do you all have the money to actually get them on there?
Wasserman: We’re doing everything we can to make sure that these ballot measures are ready to go for signature collection. My strong preference would be that the legislature refer these measures — and they can. If necessary, I think we can raise the money. But unlike Advance Colorado, we’re not sitting on $4 million of dark money to pay for signature gathering. We’re going to need to build a coalition.
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MORE: The Bell Policy Center is seeking a new president. In its job posting, the nonprofit said it has a staff of nine and an operating budget of about $1.5 million. The annual base salary is $160,000.
The group doesn’t have to disclose its donors, but Wasserman has provided The Unaffiliated with a list in the past. (We’ve shared the names of those organizations previously.)
Wasserman said he will be part of helping the Bell Policy Center find a president. He called the team at the nonprofit “amazing.”
DO THE MATH
55%
The share of registered voters in a recent poll who said they had a favorable opinion of Gov. Jared Polis.
The poll was conducted by Keating Research, a reputable Democratic firm based in Telluride, from Jan. 7-14 among 1,277 registered voters, including an oversample of Latino voters. It had a margin of error of 2.7 percentage points.
Forty percent of those polled said they had an unfavorable view of the Democrat, while 5% said they were unfamiliar with him.
Among Democrats, 85% said they viewed Polis favorably, compared with 11% who said they view him unfavorably. Among unaffiliated voters who were polled, 56% said they view the governor favorably while 37% said they view him unfavorably.
Predictably, the governor’s favorability among Republicans was much lower — 21% said they view him favorably while 78% said they view him unfavorably.
CAMPAIGN FINANCE
Colorado GOP outraises Colorado Democratic Party for a second consecutive month thanks to presidential candidate fees
The Colorado GOP outraised the Colorado Democratic Party in December for the second month in a row, though about two-thirds of the $121,000 raised by Republicans came from three presidential candidates who paid a fee to get on the March primary ballot.
Ryan Binkley, a Texas pastor, paid the Colorado GOP $40,000 while former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson each paid $20,000. Christie and Hutchinson have suspended their campaigns, but will still appear on Colorado’s ballot.
The party is requiring the Republican presidential primary candidates either pay $40,000 or pay $20,000 and visit Colorado or hold a fundraiser for the party to be on the March ballot. The money is nonrefundable.
Hutchinson’s payment wasn’t revealed until The Sun asked about it and the Colorado GOP consequently amended its December campaign finance report, which was filed this week.
Additionally, former UN ambassador and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley paid the Colorado GOP $40,000 on Nov. 1, 2023, but the state party didn’t report the payment in its last two monthly campaign finance filings with the Federal Election Commission until The Sun asked about the money.
Party Treasurer Tom Bjorklund told The Sun the contribution “was simply missed,” and that he amended the party’s November report Thursday to reflect the payment.
The Colorado GOP has received a total of $260,000 in ballot-access fees from eight presidential candidates since September.
In terms of the party’s spending, the Colorado GOP paid Fox Group, Chairman Dave Williams’ consulting business, $9,000 in December, bringing its total to $23,500 in 2023.
Colorado Democrats raised nearly $67,000 in December, with more than $15,000 of that coming from the Democratic National Committee. The party had about $194,000 in the bank at the end of 2023, compared with $664,000 for the Colorado GOP.
MORE: Not part of the newly formed 2024 RNC Victory joint fundraising committee: the Colorado GOP.
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THE POLITICAL TICKER
COLORADO LEGISLATURE : State Sen. Jeff Bridges’ wife, AnnMarie, had a baby Tuesday. It’s unknown how long the Joint Budget Committee member will be away from the Capitol and who will replace him on the JBC while he’s gone. Senate President Steve Fenberg, D-Boulder, said Senate Democrats will likely rotate in a replacement. The JBC is in the height of its work to draft the state’s 2024-45 budget, which takes effect July 1.
CAMPAIGN FINANCE: Denver-based lobbying and legal firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck hosted a fundraiser Monday in Washington, D.C., for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, according to Politico. All five Democratic U.S. representatives from Colorado attended.
LGBTQ: One Colorado Action Fund has created a state issue committee to oppose potential 2024 ballot measures. To Protect LGBTQ+ Coloradans will raise money to counter proposals they consider anti-LGBTQ, including ones that would require parental notification of “gender incongruence” and require parental consent for any mental health or other medical care for a minor. A third measure filed with the state would require school athletes to participate in sports based on their “biological sex.”
SOCIAL MEDIA: Caucus Room, a conservative social networking site created in 2020, shut down Thursday after a new business model it pursued based on paying memberships apparently failed. John Coors, who took over as manager of the Colorado-based platform late last year, announced the closing in an email Wednesday.
ELECTION 2024: Democrat Adam Frisch, a former Aspen city councilman, has been named to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s “red to blue” program for candidates seeking to unseat Republican U.S. House incumbents. Frisch made the list despite U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert’s district switch, which is expected to make it harder for him to win in the Republican-leaning 3rd Congressional District.
ELECTION 2024: Democrat John Padora, who is running a longshot campaign in the highly Republican 4th Congressional District, released a new campaign video attacking U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert that he says was filmed from the seat she was occupying at a Denver theater when she was ejected from a performance of the musical “Beetlejuice.” The theater isn’t in the district and Boebert isn’t yet the GOP nominee.
STORY: Colorado oil and gas regulators reject two drilling plans deemed too close to people and pronghorns
THE DAILY SENTINEL: Matt Soper is removed from House Agriculture, Livestock, & Water Committee, blames Marc Catlin
THE DENVER POST: Gov. Jared Polis signs first new law of 2024, boosting a tax credit for some households
COLORADO NEWSLINE: Constitutional amendment would revive struck-down child sex abuse law in Colorado
COLORADO PUBLIC RADIO: She blames social media for contributing to her daughter’s death. On Wednesday this Colorado mom took her pain to Capitol Hill.
BLAST FROM THE PAST
What happened in the 2014 and 2004 election cycles in Colorado
As the 2024 election year gets off to a wild start, we’re thinking back to how elections in Colorado went a decade and two decades ago.
In 2004, Colorado’s political tide began to shift toward Democrats, with the state veering from red to purple. Some highlights:
Ten years later, Republicans had a good election year. Some 2014 highlights:
THE BIGGER PICTURE
Corrections & Clarifications
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