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September 12, 2008 05:35 PM UTC

Shadowy DC-area group messes around with Colorado, abetted by GOP

  • 5 Comments
  • by: ClubTwitty

Another 501(c)4 has clouded up the political atmosphere here in Colorado, led by former Texas oil lobbyist and Colorado governor Bill Owens, and other GOP stalwarts.

“Western Skies” is all about dirty energy–and smearing Democrats.

Key fundraisers apparently include nutty McNulty, Josh “Machiavelli” Penry, and Cory “Drill here” Gardner.

Real Vail is reporting today that:

Rep. Frank McNulty is one of a trio of GOP state lawmakers thought to be behind the Western Skies Coalition – a Virginia corporation raising oil and gas money to target key state senate races.

More…

Although not yet registered with the IRS, Western Skies is dumping massive funds into several state races this year, polluting the issues and attempting to paint its drill-happy candidates as green.  The Real Vail continues:

The ads have portrayed both Mitchell, an incumbent from Broomfield and Szabo, a businesswoman running for Senate District 19 on the Front Range, as green-energy advocates. In fact, Mitchell has repeatedly voted against increasing the state’s renewable-energy portfolio and Szabo is running on a pro-traditional-energy platform. Neither Mitchell nor Szabo returned messages requesting comment

According to an Aug. 29 story in the Rocky Mountain News, Mitchell also signed the Western Skies pledge, but did so because of its traditional-energy opportunities rather than its nod to pursuing renewable sources, telling the paper, “What I’m not is a clean-energy statist that’s going to force consumers to transition before it makes sense.”

Meanwhile another new Astroturf group has also arrived in Colorado with clear ties to a known extremist and lawbreaker.

Western Traditions Partnership has as its registered agent in Colorado Scott Shires, who reportedly recruited current GOP senate candidate Bob Schaffer to serve on the board of the privately held National Alternative Fuel Foundation (NAFF).  Readers here should know how well that went.

Earlier this year, Shires was sentenced to probation and fined on misdemeanor charges of failing to file corporate tax returns.

Scott Shires also has ties to the Trailhead Group, which brings us back to former oil and gas lobbyist and one-time Colorado governor, Bill Owens:

Several oil and gas companies with extensive interests in Colorado flatly refused to disclose whether they have contributed to Western Skies, and McNulty wouldn’t go there either. The group lists on its executive committee former Gov. Bill Owens, a Republican who used to work as an oil and gas lobbyist and was behind the infamous Trailhead Group 527 that flooded state airwaves with attack ads in 2006.

Western Skies has recently been active in Montana, where the Missoulian reports:

When Denton rancher Scott Seilstad challenged incumbent Republican state Rep. Ed Butcher in a primary contest this June, he had to tangle with something other than Butcher: campaign mailers and money from a bevy of obscure political groups bent on defeating him.

Seilstad, a pro-life Republican who signed a pledge against raising taxes, found himself accused of being soft on abortion, cozy with labor unions and supporting higher taxes.

“I don’t mind a good, clean campaign on the issues,” Seilstad said. “But this kind of deception of the voters the last few days of the election is sleazy campaigning.”

…The mailers showed up in at least a half-dozen Republican House primaries, often in the final days before the election, labeling the targeted candidate (or candidates) as “liberal” or “soft” on issues such as crime, abortion, taxes, gun ownership, natural resource development and labor unions.

The 10 or so groups responsible for the mailers are based mostly in Bozeman and Virginia, and have names such as Mothers Against Child Predators or the National Gun Owners Alliance. A half-dozen of the groups were formed only a few weeks ago, just before the June 3 election, according to records at the state Political Practices Office.

…Whether or how these groups coordinated their efforts is unclear. Officials from most of the groups did not return telephone messages, ignored e-mails or declined to say much about what they are doing.

We might hope for a clean election, where issues and facts allow for reasoned discourse and an informed electorate.  But that seems to be the last thing folks like Gardner, Penry, and McNulty want.  It’s silly season in a targeted swing state.  Republicans realize that only lies will allow them a chance of victory.  So put on your muck boots and get ready for sleaze, which will be flying thicker than drilling mud in the month to come.

Comments

5 thoughts on “Shadowy DC-area group messes around with Colorado, abetted by GOP

  1. are we going to have REAL campaign finance reform? McCain-Feingold is obviously not working.

    We need something that closes the tax loopholes of these “non-candidate issue groups”. They are obviously supporting a specific candidate–it’s implied through their attack of the opponent in the race.

    The fact that folks in Virginia are influencing races at a state level all over the country is truly disturbing. Why do we have federalism again?

    1. 1st A.

      What we can do is pull the tax exempt status of charities and force outside groups to disclose donors.

      We can also make outside groups libel for defamation and making false statements.

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