April 30, 2018 01:35 PM UTC

Walker Stapleton, Man of the (Rich) People

•  
• by: Colorado Pols

Republican Walker Stapleton is raising a lot of money in his bid for Governor — he was the top fundraiser among all gubernatorial candidates at the end of 2017 — and a good deal of those donations have come from people who do not live in Colorado.

Stapleton is certainly not the only candidate for Governor to raise money from out-of-state donors, but he might be the sole candidate making this specific fundraising pitch, as Westword reports:

In a recording obtained by Westword, Walker Stapleton tells a crowd at a campaign event in Grand Junction that he pitches out-of-state donors by telling them that property taxes on their vacation homes in Colorado would double or triple under a Democratic governor.

“I have traveled around this country, we’ve been doing events in California, Texas, Florida and in New York,” Stapleton said. “And the reason we’ve been doing that is that people care a lot about this state. Texans have houses in Colorado Springs in the summer to escape the Texas heat. A lot of people in this country have ski houses in Breckenridge and other places that they cherish and love. And the point to make to your neighbors outside of Colorado is that, ‘Hey, you know that house you love in Colorado? You know that vacation time you love spending in our state? Well, get ready for your property taxes to double or triple, because there is no way to pay for everything they are proposing without driving our income taxes through the roof.'” [Pols emphasis]

Stapleton has raised $38,505 from donors in California, $37,000 from Texans, $52,525 from Floridians and $49,360 from New Yorkers, according to campaign finance records. His campaign has raised the most money from donors in those states than any other gubernatorial candidate in Colorado, in many cases by a wide margin. For example, Mike Johnston’s campaign, the runner up for most donations received from Florida, raised just $5,360.30.