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A state-level super PAC supporting Democrat Michael Bennet’s gubernatorial campaign has raised nearly $950,000, much of it from pro-charter school groups and a nonprofit created earlier this year that doesn’t have to disclose its donors.
Rocky Mountain Way formed in April, a few days after Bennet entered the race, and is being managed by MBA Consulting Group, which is based in Washington, D.C.
Its single biggest donor, at $300,0000, has been Brighter Future for Colorado, a nonprofit that organized in February and whose address is a UPS Store in Denver’s Cherry Creek neighborhood. Its registered agent is Tierney Lawrence Stiles, Colorado’s top Democratic law firm.
As a nonprofit, Brighter Future for Colorado doesn’t have to report its donors and is what The Colorado Sun refers to as a dark money group.
The PAC also received $100,000 from Colorado League of Charter Schools Action and infusions from the pro-charter nonprofit Denver Families for Public Schools, at $40,000; Portland, Oregon-based Stand for Children, at $25,000; and the Washington, D.C.-based 50CAN Action Fund, at $20,000.
As a state-level super PAC, formally known as an independent expenditure committee, Rocky Mountain Way cannot coordinate with Bennet. He has no control over the group.
But the committee can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money, making it a potent force in Bennet’s primary race against Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser.
Weiser doesn’t have a state-level super PAC supporting his gubernatorial bid — yet.
Other major donors to Rocky Mountain Way include:
Bennet’s campaign separately raised $1.7 million between April and the end of June. It began July with about $1.35 million in the bank.
Weiser raised about $1 million in the second quarter, starting July with $2.5 million in the bank.
No Republican candidate for governor raised more than $35,000 during the quarter.
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CORRECTION: Last week’s newsletter incorrectly identified the cochairs of a new housing consortium. It is cochaired by Pat Hamill, the former CEO of Oakwood Homes, and Maria De Cambra, the executive director of the Department of Local Affairs. Jamie Van Leeuwen, executive director of the BuildStrong Foundation, is helping manage the consortium.
MORE CAMPAIGN FINANCE
We’ve already shared a lot of the campaign finance reports from the last quarter.
Here are the most important fundraising and spending numbers from April 1 through June 30 that we haven’t told you about yet:
THE NARRATIVE
Joe Neguse wants to ban former members of Congress from lobbying. That would leave some Colorado politicos unemployed.
U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse wants to keep former members of Congress away from one of their favorite post-public service gigs: lobbying Congress.
A bill the Lafayette Democrat introduced last week with U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, would impose a lifetime ban on lobbying for former members of Congress, a six-year ban on lobbying for senior congressional staffers and a six-year ban on congressional offices hiring lobbyists they’ve worked with closely.
It would also require the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate to maintain a public database of lobbyists and more than double the current penalty for violating lobbying disclosure laws.
The measure is the latest collaboration between the two progressives who have teamed up in the past, albeit unsuccessfully, on bills to prohibit members of Congress and their family members from trading stocks.
The lobbying ban would leave some former members of Congress from Colorado unemployed.
Data compiled by Open Secrets, a government transparency nonprofit, shows at least three of the 13 former members of Congress from Colorado who left Washington since 2009 have worked as lobbyists or at lobbying firms since their departures.
At least six others who departed before then have worked in the lobbying world, too, according to Open Secrets.
Lobbying firms often seek out former members of Congress to join their ranks in the hope that they can use their inside knowledge to sway current members on behalf of clients.
Former Colorado senators and reps have worked on behalf of all kinds of interest groups.
This year, former U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter, a Democrat who represented the northern and western suburbs of Denver in Congress from 2007 to 2023, is lobbying on behalf of seven clients through his firm, Holland & Knight, according to Open Secrets. His clients include real estate companies, a chemical company, a battery company, a cannabis association, Denver Health and Colorado School of Mines.
Former U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard, a Republican who served from 1997 to 2009, is the vice president of government relations at the American Motorcyclist Association and has lobbied for other groups, including the American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges, according to Open Secrets.
Former U.S. Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, who changed his party affiliation to Republican from Democrat during his 12 years in Congress beginning in 1993, has his own consulting firm and has lobbied on behalf of the Indian Gaming Association, according to Open Secrets.
Former U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, a Republican who served from 2003 to 2009, is the vice president of government affairs at the Susan B Anthony List organization. And former U.S. Sen. Timothy Wirth, a Democrat who served from 1987 to 1993, is a board member of the United Nations Foundation and has lobbied for the Better World Fund, which supports UN causes.
Former U.S. Reps. Scott McInnis, a Republican, has in the past lobbied for the Anschutz Corporation, mining companies, the American Red Cross, and other groups with the firm Hogan & Hartson, according to Open Secrets..
Former U.S. Sens. Cory Gardner, a Republican, and Ken Salazar, a Democrat, and U.S. Rep. David Skaggs, a Democrat, have worked for lobbying firms. But none of the three have been registered as lobbyists.
Gardner, who served for one term from 2015 to 2021, is on the board of advisers at Michael Best Strategies LLC, a lobbying firm that represents clients from many different industries. Salazar is back at WilmerHale, a lobbying and law firm, after serving as ambassador to Mexico, and Skaggs has worked at several lobbying firms, according to Open Secrets.
McInnis said he opposes a lifetime ban on lobbying for former members of Congress.
“Seems kind of a punishment for serving your country,” he said. “I would consider timeouts before lifetime bans.”
McInnis, who said he works mostly in private business now after years of lobbying and then serving on the Mesa County commission, is proudest of lobbying for Anschutz Medical Center. Still, he sees the need for guardrails.
“It’s reasonable that if you’re a former congressman on the defense committee, you can’t be a lobbyist for Russia,” he said.
Neguse’s office said the congressman wasn’t available to speak with The Sun this week. In a statement when he introduced the bill, the congressman said “we must clean up government for future generations and ensure our government is serving the American people, not special interests.”
Untangling Congress from former member lobbyists may be more difficult than it seems.
Open Secrets data shows 79 donors to Neguse in the 2024 election cycle that both lobby and have former members as lobbyists. Among the largest donors were lobbying and law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck; the credit union trade association America’s Credit Unions; and the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.
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THE POLITICAL TICKER
ELECTION CONSPIRACIES
Eric Coomer, a former executive at Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems, is seeking an additional $82,000 in court costs from MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell as part of his successful defamation lawsuit.
A federal jury last month ruled that Lindell and his FrankSpeech broadcasting platform defamed Coomer and ordered him to pay roughly $2 million in damages. That was well short of the nearly $63 million Coomer had sought for Lindell’s spread of election conspiracies.
Lindell is asking the court to overrule the jury’s findings on FrankSpeech and wipe out the $300,000 awarded to Coomer.
ENDORSEMENTS
Former U.S. Rep. John Salazar, D-Alamosa, has endorsed Democrat Alex Kelloff in Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District. Kelloff, who lives in Old Snowmass and works in finance, is running to unseat Republican U.S. Rep. Jeff Hurd.
“Alex gets it — he knows what matters here,” Salazar said in a written statement. “Alex is committed to protecting rural communities and our water so that we don’t lose what is our lifeblood. I’m a farmer and a rancher, and that’s how I make my living.”
ELECTION 2026
Colton Jonjak Plahn, a former vice chair of the Boulder County Democratic Party, is throwing his hat into the ring in state House District 19.
He’s the third Democrat running to reclaim the seat from Republican state Rep. Dan Woog of Erie. The other two are Jillaire McMillan, who narrowly lost to Woog last year, and Anil Pesaramelli, a software engineer who has unsuccessfully run for several local positions in the past.
READ MORE
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THIS WEEK’S PODCAST: Mark McKinnon on Trump and Colorado politics
ELECTION 2026
The Working Families Party endorsed Amie Baca-Oehlert. The party’s top official is her lead consultant.
The Working Families Party, a liberal Democratic offshoot, announced this week that it is endorsing Amie Baca-Oehlert in the crowded 8th Congressional District primary — prized backing that may help voters parse through the increasingly long list of challengers to Republican U.S. Rep. Gabe Evans.
“Amie is the kind of leader we need in Congress,” Wynn Howell, the Colorado Working Families Party state director, said in a written statement.
What the news release rolling out the endorsement didn’t mention, however, is that Howell is Baca-Oehlert’s top campaign consultant. In fact, several other top Colorado Working Families Party leaders have been helping Baca-Oehlert’s campaign from the start.
The connections have been a source of internal and external conflict for the Colorado Working Families Party, whose central committee recently voted 28-6 to endorse Baca-Oehlert. Two other Democrats, state Rep. Manny Rutinel and state Treasurer Dave Young, sought the party’s endorsement in the 8th District.
Baca-Oehlert is the former president of the Colorado Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union. She reported raising just shy of $60,000 between when she launched her campaign on June 5 and the end of June. She started July with about $30,000 in cash on hand.
Howell, who goes by they/them pronouns, is working as Baca-Oehlert’s general consultant, a catch-all campaign position that is as important, if not more, than campaign manager.
“You all are aware that Wynn Howell is serving as my general consultant,” Baca-Oehlert told the Colorado Working Families Party central committee in July during an endorsement interview, a recording of which was obtained by The Colorado Sun. “I’m probably biased, as many of you may be as well, but I think Wynn is one of the most strategic campaign people around. So I feel really great about having Wynn in that role.”
Howell, in an interview with The Sun, denied any wrongdoing or conflict. They said they recused themselves from the endorsement process and are not being paid for their work on Baca-Oehlert’s campaign. It’s a purely volunteer role.
“This campaign has cost me money. I’m not making anything,” Howell said. “We don’t have anything to hide here. This is just sour grapes from some people who lost a vote.”
Howell said the Colorado Working Families Party frequently backs candidates like Baca-Oehlert, who is a former member of the party’s state central committee.
“This is what we do as Working Families Party,” Howell said. “One of the things that we do, and are known for around the country, is supporting our people — people who have helped to build our organization — in running for office. We’ve had multiple state committee members run for office over the years. We’ve supported, I think, almost every single one of them. This is not anything new. This is not anything weird.”
Meanwhile, two members of the Colorado Working Families Party central committee — Rey Galindo, a former state representative, and Lisa Calderón, a former Denver mayoral candidate — provided in-kind help to Baca-Oehlert’s campaign in June, according to campaign finance records. Members of the central committee started the endorsement process in July. (Galindo went by a different name while serving in the legislature.)
Howell said Galindo and Calderón’s support of Baca-Oehlert didn’t rise to the threshold of having to recuse themselves from the endorsement process under the Working Families Party’s rules because neither have key roles in the campaign or are paid for their work.
Calderón and Howell are listed on Baca-Oehlert’s campaign website as her top endorsers.
Bottom line, Howell says: “We are running one of the most badass labor leaders in the country for Congress here in Colorado. And yes, that is going to make waves. And yes, that’s going to upset some people.”
BACA-OEHLERT STAKES OUT LIBERAL POSITIONS
In her endorsement interview with the Colorado Working Families Party, Baca-Oehlert staked out a series of left-wing positions.
She said she supports banning hydraulic fracturing, abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the creation of a single-payer health care system and canceling student debt. Baca-Oehlert also said she supports granting statehood to Washington, D.C.; the union-friendly PRO Act; and passage of “key components” of the Green New Deal, the liberal playbook to fight climate change.
Finally, Baca-Oehlert said the minimum wage should be $15, “but even that is too low.” In Colorado, “just to be able to get by, to survive” the minimum wage should be $20 to $30, she said.
While those positions may be attractive to the Democratic base, they could become a general election liability, or at least a line of attack, in the 8th District, which is one of the most competitive U.S. House districts in the nation.
Evans, who is aligned with and backed by Donald Trump, won in 2024 by about 2,500 votes after promising to crack down on illegal immigration, cut regulations and extend the Trump tax cuts, which he recently voted to do.
THE BIGGER PICTURE
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Corrections & Clarifications
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