November 02, 2016 11:50 AM UTC

Metastasis: From Attacking "ColoradoCare" To Demonizing Democrats

•  
• by: Colorado Pols

A press release from the nonprofit Colorado Health Institute, one of the state’s principal health policy thinktanks whose study of the potential effects of Amendment 69 led to many lefty organizations backing away from the proposal, warns of a group with a similar-sounding name to theirs operating in a much more overtly political way than CHI ever would:

It has come to our attention that a group calling itself the Colorado Health Care Research Institute is financing ads against Amendment 69. Because this name is so similar to our name — the Colorado Health Institute — we feel it is important to let the community know that our organizations are not related or connected in any way.

The Colorado Health Institute — that’s us — is a nonprofit and nonpartisan health policy research organization based in Denver. Our research informs health policy discussions with evidence and unbiased analysis. We take our mission and our nonpartisan status very seriously.

We have written briefs analyzing various aspects of Amendment 69, but we have not and will not take a position on Amendment 69, or any other ballot issue or bill.

The group paying for the anti-Amendment 69 ads appears on state documents as both the Colorado Health Care Institute and the Colorado Health Care Research Institute. Paperwork at the Secretary of State’s office shows the Colorado Health Care Research Institute — that’s not us — was established in July as a 501(c)4. This is a type of tax-exempt group that can make political donations without revealing its donors.

Again, we don’t know this group, and it is not affiliated in any way with the Colorado Health Institute.

And as it turns out, Amendment 69 isn’t the only target of the so-called Colorado Health Care Research Institute–this “dark money” group’s attacks on Amendment 69 have seamlessly morphed into attacks on Democratic candidates over health care. Mailers from the Colorado Health Care Research Institute are reportedly showing up in mailboxes in numerous key legislative races this week. The principal agent for the group is the ubiquitous Katie Kennedy, also the face you’ll never see for dozens of Republican “independent” committees from the Senate Majority Fund to Colorado Citizens for an Accountable Government of “China Girl” infamy.

For Democrats who have contended with the political hot potato of Amendment 69 for the whole year, the irony of this GOP group shifting from attacks on “ColoradoCare” to attacks on Democratic candidates is readily apparent. In a way, it sums up what the doomed Amendment 69 campaign has proven most useful for politically: as a weapon for Republicans to use, against Democrats whether they support the initiative or not. The misinformation from the GOP about Amendment 69 has been as detached from reality as it was with Obamacare itself, and voters have even less ability to cut through the electioneering noise than they did in 2010. Which you’ll recall was a very tough year to be a Democrat, in large part due to misinformation over health reform.

The moral of the story? For a measure that may not even crack 30% support next Tuesday, “ColoradoCare” wasn’t worth it. If you set out to achieve an ambitious goal, you’d better be aware of not just the consequences of failure, but the collateral damage you’re likely to suffer along the way to failure. The political liability created by Amendment 69 in this election outweighed the political benefits, and the reality that it was never going to pass means that’s all that matters.

This is what was on the minds of Democrats who got out of the way of this well-intentioned but politically misguided proposal back in the summertime. And they are being proven right.