June 08, 2023 09:11 AM MDT

Larry Mizel and Pete Coors to Co-Host Exclusive Brown Palace Fundraiser for Boebert Tomorrow

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• by: Erik Maulbetsch

 

POLS UPDATE (FRIDAY): This event was apparently cancelled because of a scheduling conflict.

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(Et tu, Larry Mizel? — Promoted by Colorado Pols)

By Maya Cederlund, Colorado Times Recorder

Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) and Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-WY) are holding a joint fundraiser this Friday at 12:30 p.m. at the Brown Palace in Denver.

While the co-host list is still in formation, The Colorado Times Recorder has learned it includes wealthy conservatives Larry Mizel and Pete Coors.

Boebert was recently filmed running up the House steps after discovering she missed a crucial vote to suspend the national debt ceiling, despite claiming earlier on Twitter that her absence was an intentional protest.

Hageman, like Boebert, is an election denier and was endorsed by former President Donald Trump during the 2021 Wyoming House GOP primary when she ousted incumbent Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY). Hageman is an anti-abortion advocate and is dedicated to “stopping the radical Biden agenda,” according to her campaign website.

Both Boebert and Hageman sit on the House Committee on Natural Resources and will also appear at the Western Conservative Summit on Friday.

Boebert and Hageman are charging $500 for general attendees, $1,000 for VIP Individuals, $2,500 for the Co-Host Level, and $6,600 for the Chairman Host Level. Donors at the Co-Host level and above also get to attend an “intimate insiders Round Table prior to general reception.”

Given that there are four known co-hosts, Boebert and Hageman will make at least $10,000 from their contributions alone.

Coors, who retired as CEO of MolsonCoors in 2019, has been a prominent Republican donor, candidate and conservative activist. He ran unsuccessfully for Colorado’s Senate in 2004.

Mizel a long-time Republican donor who co-chaired the 2016 Trump campaign in Colorado, founded several charities whose missions appear to be at odds with several of Boebert’s statements.

Mizel is a Denver-based political donor and the founder and CEO of M.D.C. Holdings, Inc., a New York-based real estate developer. Mizel is also a co-founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a human rights organization based in Los Angeles, California, committed to fighting antisemitism and hatred.

The Wiesenthal Center contains “cutting-edge technology” and exhibits that explore “pressing topics ranging from hate and antisemitism, LGBTQ+ issues, racism, climate change, homelessness, immigration, policing, and the COVID-19 pandemic,” according to their website.

Mizel and his wife, Carol, founded the Mizel Institute, an organization “committed to developing a more educated, conscientious and empowered community.” Last September, the Mizel Institute hosted Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, who gave a speech about the rise of antisemitism.

Reached by phone for comment, Mr. Mizel hung up on a Colorado Times Recorder reporter.

Neither Mizel’s company, MDC Holdings, nor the Mizel Institute returned email requests for comment. This article will be updated with any response received.

Despite Mizel’s various organizations advocating for human rights issues, and Mizel himself being a firm advocate for the Jewish community, he is still a co-sponsor of the fundraiser, with Boebert having said racist and anti-LGBTQ+ remarks in the past.

Boebert was widely criticized for a May 25 tweet in which she claimed President Biden’s newly announced national plan to combat antisemitism, was in fact a way to “go after conservatives.”

Last January, Boebert asked a group of Jewish visitors at the Capitol building if “they were there to do ‘reconnaissance’” shortly after a 12-hour hostage situation at a synagogue in Colleyville, Texas.

Boebert was also criticized by The Times of Israel for comparing the U.S. government’s efforts to vaccinate the population against COVID-19 to Nazis and the Holocaust, tweeting that “Biden has deployed his Needle Nazis to Mesa County.”

Besides Coors and Mizel hosting Boebert and Hageman’s fundraiser, oil and gas executive Steve Struna is also listed as co-host.

Struna, who runs Bayswater Exploration, is a member of Colorado Concern, an organization founded by Mizel that consists of “exclusive executives” committed to improving and “protecting the Centennial State’s business climate.”

The fundraiser will occur on Friday, June 9, from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.

Deputy Editor Erik Maulbetsch contributed to this article.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified Colorado House GOP Deputy Chief of Staff Roger Hudson as an additional co-host. The Colorado Times Recorder regrets the error.