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May 12, 2010 05:17 PM UTC

Where are McInnis' writings about CO water issues?

  • 33 Comments
  • by: Jason Salzman

( – promoted by Colorado Pols)

Despite Craig Silverman’s fog-horn voice and Dan Caplis’ adolescent intonations, I like the “Caplis and Silverman” talk-radio show, especially when they’ve got good guests like Scott McInnis or John Hickenlooper.

But the show, on KHOW radio in Denver, gets frustrating when the hosts fail to ask the follow-up questions that pile up in your own mind as you listen in.

For example, Colorado gubernatorial candidate Scott McInnis was on the show April 26, discussing his decision not to release his income tax returns.

The Denver Post had pieced together some of McInnis’ income over the years, and Silverman asked McInnis, “one lawyer to another” about $150,000 that he earned from the Hasan Family Foundation after he left Congress. “How does a lawyer get in on that,” Silverman asked him. (See transcript here.)

“I wrote a series of in-depth articles on water, Colorado water. And so, that’s what that was about. And so I was pretty excited to do it,” McInnis answered him, adding later: “When I got out [from Congress], we were having a conversation, and they said, we’d be interested in doing this if you’d be interested in helping put together some articles at some point, [that] could be used in a series for education on water in Colorado. So that’s what that was about. And I was thrilled to do it. I got paid to do it. That’s pretty sweet.”

As a sometime writer, not a lawyer, I later wondered how much writing McInnis had to do for the $150,000, but Silverman let me down and didn’t ask the question.

So I searched Nexis and found no articles on water by McInnis.

I also spent some time on Google, to no avail.

I then went to the Hasan Family Foundation website, and there’s a photo of McInnis next to a short description of his “senior fellowship” and a link to a presentation titled “Colorado Water Analysis” by Muhammad Ali Hasan. Then on the next line, you see “The Hasan Family Foundation” and below this, you find “Water Project Wing – Congressman Scott McInnis.”

I emailed Muhammad Ali Hasan to find out if other articles were available. He cordially responded that due to my inquiry, he added a note to his “Colorado Water Analysis” clarifying that Scott McInnis was not an author. The note stated, in part, “Analysis written and conducted solely by Muhammad Ali Hasan, under the guidance of Professor James Sadd of Occidental College.”

So now I was back to square one. What did McInnis write during his fellowship? Hasan concluded his note to me by suggesting I contact the Hasan Family Foundation attorney, Glenn Merrick.

“I think you’ll have to get those from Mr. McInnis,” Merrick told me when I asked if McInnis’ water articles were available.

I asked if articles had been turned over to the foundation as part of the fellowship, and he said he believed so, but I’d have to get them from McInnis.

I told Merrick that when he was on the radio, McInnis mentioned articles that “could be used in a series for education on water in Colorado.” What about those articles?

“Well, I think it was intended to educate an audience who had a keen interest in this topic,” Merrick said. “It was intended to allow the foundation to distribute to that audience. But I don’t know precisely who the audience is. If McInnis wants to give it to you, and he authored it, then I think that’s acceptable.”

I was left with only one more place to go for the answer to my question and that was, of course, McInnis’ office. I was thinking that I should have simply called there first.

I was wrong about that, because I couldn’t get an answer.

I called late Monday afternoon and explained what I was looking for. But McInnis’ spokesman Sean Duffy could not provide a comment or response on the matter Monday or Tuesday.

So this story ends without an answer to the query Silverman should have asked McInnis on his radio show in the first place. Where are McInnis’ articles about Colorado water? And can we take a look at them?

See complete links on the Rocky Mountain Media Watch website.

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33 thoughts on “Where are McInnis’ writings about CO water issues?”

    1. I think it may depend on the tax status of the foundation.  I’m familiar with non-profits but not foundations.  If a non-profit paid someone for an action that did not address its purpose, that would be a problem.  A foundation must have some similar rules …?

      1. is organized for charitable or educational purposes. So if McInnis did actually did write something on “Colorado water” it could be claimed it was done for educational purposes.

        I certainly don’t know what his expertise is on water though. I can certainly think of other experts on Colorado water policy other than Scooter.  

  3. That’s amazing.  $150K is probably about one year’s worth of work of two staffers of the Western Water Assessment (joint CU and NOAA program run by Brad Udall, Mark’s brother).  You know, people who actually do know something about, and actually do write about, water in Colorado.  

    Thanks for being our congressman, Scott.  Here’s $150K.  Don’t spend it all in one place.

  4. you missed the closer. If McInnis got a $150,000 no-work sweetheart deal, what did his benefactor get in return? Didn’t his son ask for McInnis’ endorsement for a legislative race, but not receive it? Good job identifying the quid, but the scandal would be the pro quo.

    1. I think McInnis considered Muhammad Ali Hasan a hot potato after hearing about Hasan’s restraining order and that all history about the order is “lost.”

  5. Colorado Water Analysis

    by Muhammad Ali Hasan

    The Hasan Family Foundation Water Project Wing

    Congressman Scott McInnis – Senior Fellow from 2005 to 2007

    Analysis done from 2003 to 2005

    This is on the title page and is the text under the link leading to Ali Hasan’s PDF. I don’t see any note about the analysis being solely done by Ali Hasan, except I guess implicitly.

    1. But here’s the note that Mr. Hasan emailed me:

      “NOTE:

      Analysis written and conducted solely by Muhammad Ali Hasan, under the guidance of Professor James Sadd of Occidental College. The analysis was done at Occidental College, where Hasan was an Independent Pattern of Study student in the Environmental Science & Geology Department. The primary software used to compile the analysis was ArcView by ESRI. The Colorado Water Analysis was contributed to the Hasan Family Foundation by Muhammad Ali Hasan, primarily for the sake of making it available to Senior Fellow Scott McInnis, for his Hasan Family Foundation work on water issues in Colorado. “

      1. I don’t see McInnis doing anything other than receiving the water analysis from MAH, and then receiving $ 150K.  Am I missing something ?

        This dosen’t look right.

        1. That’s why businesses hire people in both accountz reeceevable and accountz payabo.

          I’m sure McInnis had to figure out what to do with all that money. Had to research which accounts to put it in, whether to invest in a CD or a money market, which bank to use, what term to get, what interest rates were like. That’s hard work!

          1. There is nothing tangible that McInnis did.  I am not a lawyer but am wondering if this is even legal.  I guess it might be, but barely.  Sheesh.

  6. $150k for a series of educational articles on water? $150k?

    For $150k, you could pay a top-notch writer for 2 years of full-time work. Or you could pay a writer and a graphic artist for a year and really develop some great stuff.

    So what did the Hasan Foundation get for their $150k? What are you really buying when you hire an ex-congressman/lawyer/lobbyist to write articles about Colorado water?

    1. And what could get interesting is that it might blow back not only on McInnis, but also on the Hasan family.  Something tells me that they would not be too happy if it looked as if Foundation money went to something that wasn’t educational, that wasn’t at all appropriate for the Foundation.  

  7. I decided to take a look at the “analysis” conducted by MAH (the one that McInnis had absolutely no part in authorship). You can find the pdf of the powerpoint here.

    First, I was unable to find any sign of the note MAH claims to have recently added:

    He cordially responded that due to my inquiry, he added a note to his “Colorado Water Analysis” clarifying that Scott McInnis was not an author. The note stated, in part, “Analysis written and conducted solely by Muhammad Ali Hasan, under the guidance of Professor James Sadd of Occidental College.”

    Indeed, for some reason, Scott McInnis’s name is still on the title slide.

    BUT, the main thing I want to comment on (well, outside the omission of any real analysis) is the lack of any units anywhere in the presentation. There are all kinds of slides showing county-by-county patterns of water usage, with numbers of incredible precision, but no units.

    In some counties, the range of water usage is 62215.262 – 105856.954. This level of precision is surely unwarranted. But also, what the hell are the units?

    You know, units like volume and/or time. Maybe gallons per day or acre-feet per year or hogshead per helek or flushes per fortnight. Something.

    These are two basic issues that anyone who works with numbers and has a college degree should have addressed. Especially with an “analysis” done over two years (2003-2005; if it had been done overnight, I would excuse the use of the program defaults).

    Somebody who wants to be Treasurer should really ought to be more careful and thorough.

    Nice large, easy to read, compass rose, though.

    2. I took a look.  That is unbelievably bad.  Lower than undergrad quality.  

      “Drip Dry Conclusion.  It would definitely help.”

      Wowsers.  What the hell was the point of this?  Just to give MAH something to do?

  8. McInnis Pushed Tax Return Stonewall Too Far–Much Worse Coming?  

    Better check the facts

    He went on the next year to receive a $150,000 fellowship from The Hasan Family Foundation, dedicated to educational and health initiatives in southern Colorado and funding programs that “bring a better understanding of the Muslim and South Asian cultures to the people of the United States,” according to its website.

    Dr. Hasan and his family are very well respected. His son is even running for state treasurer. But, those in tight GOP circles knows there is no love loss between the Hasans’ and Scott McInnis.

    For several reasons, 1) McInnis failed to do the work he promised to do while working for the Hasan Family Foundation. Instead, took the money and ran. 2) He promised Ali an endorsement when he ran for the state legislature and instead, McInnis, after promising, opted not to endorse.

    Simply put, McInnis is wrong for Colorado.

    by: WashParkPoet @ Mon Apr 26, 2010 at 22:17:33 PM MDT

  9. I paged through the actual “Colorado Water Analysis” and it actually states that “all data is estimated.”  They don’t cite a single source for any of these estimates.  Oh wait, that’s not quite true.  They say that Denver Water says 50% of water usage goes to landscaping.  

    It’s not even an “article,” it’s just a PowerPoint presentation with a bunch of graphs of “estimates” (aka made up shit?) of Colorado population and water usage by county.  The conclusion is that Colorado’s water problems can be “solved” with xeriscaping, water reclamation, and drip dry systems.

    It’s a POS.  McInnis and MAH should both be embarrassed to have their names on it.  No wonder McInnis doesn’t want to put it out there.

    1. but they also need to add overpopulation and legal/illegal immigration to the mix.

      Solve those last two and maybe you are going to get somewhere before water rationing becomes a way of life.

    2. All data is estimated, so no estimations should not be taken as factual

      figures, within this study – study is for investigation purposes, with further

      study needed for greater conclusions

      No data should not be taken as factual figures?  Huh?

      1. Especially in light of the incredible precision that Ardy noted above (8 significant figures!).

        I wonder what sort of grade Professor James Sadd of Occidental College gave MAH for this “analysis”?

  12. to split hairs on media minutia but he does come through with some gems that the rest of us skip over.

    Thanks for the posts Jason.  You have been on a roll lately.

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