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Real cash is starting to fill the campaign coffers of committees backing or opposing key education-related ballot measures.
The big money – nearly $7 million as of a Monday reporting deadline - is being raised to oppose Gov. Bill Ritter’s proposed severance tax increase and to promote a measure that would allow residents of the three casino towns to lift some gaming restrictions, with most of the additional revenue going to community colleges.
There’s little surprising about those two fundraising efforts, but there are some interesting funders supporting House Speaker Andrew Romanoff’s effort to repeal much of the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights and Amendment 23.
A quick tally:
Initiative 113 – Severance tax increase to fund Colorado Promise Scholarships
Supporters have raised $450,800 and spent $155,961
Opponents have raised $3.6 million and spent $191,582
Initiative 121 – New gambling revenues for community colleges
Supporters have raised $3.1 million and spent $193,379
No opposition committee is yet registered with the secretary of state, although Focus on the Family opposes the plan
Initiative 126 – Savings Account for Education (rewrite of TABOR and Amendment 23)
Supporters have raised $107,180 and spent $95,553.98
No opposition committee is yet registered, but Doug Bruce probably is plotting something
The details:
The Denver Foundation, the 83-year-old community foundation, has donated $50,000 to the SAFE campaign committee that’s leading the drive for No. 126.
The foundation also has registered as a committee in support of No. 126, and in a report filed Monday morning, the foundation listed $950,000 in cash on hand.
Foundation President David Miller said the executive committee has made $1 million available for the campaign but that further spending and contributions will depend on developments. Among other things, measure proponents are still gathering signatures. Some 76,000 valid signatures will have to be submitted by Aug. 4 for the measure to earn a spot on the November ballot.
The SAFE committee Monday reported contributions of $107,180 and spending of $95,553.28. In addition to the Denver Foundation, other major contributors include:
- Bob Tointon, Greeley construction executive and longtime contributor to Republican campaigns, $10,000
- Colorado Bankers Association, $10,000
- Colorado Contractors Association, $10,000
- Colorado Education Association, $7,638.02
- Dan Ritchie, former University of Denver chancellor who now heads the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, $5,000
- Elaine Gantz Berman, 1st Congressional District member of the State Board of Education, $10,000
- Ken Gordon, state Senate majority leader, $6,000
The campaign has spent $93,155 for petition circulators.
The Denver Foundation has assets of $560 million and in 2007 made grants totaling $65 million. It focuses on arts and culture, civic life and education and health and human services. Miller said it gave money to the Referendum C campaign in 2005, along with a number of other community foundations, which are allowed to contribute to issue campaigns.
Miller is a former director of the Office of State Planning and Budget, was a top aide to Mayor Federico Pena and was a principal at GBSM, the powerhouse communications consulting firm.
The foundation’s board includes Joe Blake, president of the Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce, businesswoman and community activist Barbara Grogan and former legislator Penfield Tate.
A Smarter Colorado, the campaign committee advocating for the severance tax initiative, has received $100,000 from the Gary-Williams Co., a Denver energy firm, and $276,000 from the Nature Conservancy (some of revenues also would go to environmental programs). Dan Ritchie also chipped in $5,000 to this group.
On the spending side, $106,587 has gone to Field Works, a Washington, D.C., firm, for circulating petitions.
Opposed is Coloradans for a Stable Economy (no website found), the bulk of whose bankroll has been provided by Chevron ($1 million), Encana (also $1 million), the Williams Companies of San Francisco (another $1 million) and others.
Most of the spending so far has gone to various campaign consultants, including $50,000 to veteran GOP adman Walt Klein. Dan Hopkins, former mouthpiece for Gov. Bill Owens, has been paid $9,000, and Phil Fox, retired from the Colorado Association of School Executives, has been paid a $7,500 retainer and $3,176 in expenses.
Turning to the gambling-for-colleges measure, Coloradans for Sensible Solutions is funded by 10 casinos (surprise), including $1.5 million from the Isle of Capri and $700,000 from Ameristar Casino.
Walt Klein is also on retainer with these folks (for another $50,000), as is Phil Fox, for $3,500.
(Opponents are fighting the measure on multiple fronts, and on Monday filed a complaint in Denver District Court alleging that the Department of Higher Education is illegally supporting the measure by doing research on how it would be administered. See this story for background.)
Referendum O, the legislative measure to raise signature requirements for ballot measures, is represented by Citizens for Constitutional Common Sense, which reports raising no money so far.
Three other proposed measures, the affirmative action ban, the ban on deducting union dues from government paychecks and a third that would have the effect of limiting campaign contributions by teachers unions, also are vying for the ballot. EdNews will untangle their finances later this week.
What they’re fighting over
In case you’re a little vague on the details, here’s what each of the three measures would do if passed:
Initiative No. 113 would eliminate an existing property tax-severance tax offset for energy and mining companies and increase the tax on some low-volume wells. The additional revenue would be used for college scholarships, wildlife habitat, renewable energy programs and transportation and water projects in communities affected by energy development. It’s a proposed change in state law, not a constitutional amendment. Estimated first-year revenue is $290 million, about $157 million for the scholarships.
Initiative No. 121 would allow voters in Colorado gambling towns (Black Hawk, Central City and Cripple Creek) to increase bet limits and casino hours, as well as add new games.
If such changes were made, up to $78 million in additional revenue would go to the state’s community and local-district colleges.
Initiative No. 126 would retain the TABOR requirement that voters approve tax increases. But the surplus state revenues that now are supposed to be refunded to taxpayers instead would be diverted to the State Education Fund, creating a larger dedicated source of money for schools.
A “savings account” also would be created within the fund, and that account could be tapped only by a two-thirds legislative vote in case of economic downturn and declining state revenues. In turn, most of Amendment 23’s requirements for automatic annual increases in K-12 spending would be repealed after 2011.
Disclosure: The Gary-Williams Co. funds the Piton Foundation, which in turn is one of several sponsors of Education News Colorado. This website takes no position pro or con on ballot measures, and its sponsors don’t determine our news coverage. And, the opinions expressed by bloggers on Schools for Tomorrow are theirs alone and don’t represent EdNews.
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