Anonymous Money Continues to Fuel Colorado Campaigns

It’s time again to take a look at the amount of anonymous money that flowed into a segment of Colorado political campaigns this year.

After the 2004 election, I tried to tally a rough amount that was raised anonymously by Small Donor PACs in Colorado. Small Donor PACs were created by voters in 2002, when they passed Amendment 27; a “campaign finance reform” constitutional initiative that did great damage to how campaigns are run in Colorado. Small Donor PACs can give 10 times the amount of money to a campaign that an individual is allowed to contribute.

Contributions under $20 to Small Donor PACs aren’t required to have a name attached to them, and they are almost always reported as “non-itemized contributions” on the Secretary of State’s disclosure form.

Unions control the biggest Small Donor PACs; funding them with the dues of their members, often times without the member’s approval.

In 2004, Small Donor PACs reported over $1.5 million in anonymous donations, which I detailed in two June 2005 posts.

In 2006, Small Donor PACs were able to rake in an amazing amount of anonymous money. In looking up the data of 10 committees, the total was $2.5 million dollars.

2006 Anonymous Contributions to Small Donor PACs:

Public Education Committee (CEA) $811,000
Service Employees International Union (SEIU) $787,000
AFL-CIO $330,000
United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7R $223,000
Colorado Professional Firefighters $194,000
Jefferson County Education Association $178,000
SEIU Local 105 $142,000
Denver Teachers Association $101,000
Colorado Council of Teamsters $69,000
United Transportation Union $30,500

Total $2,536,000

This anonymous money was then donated to statewide and legislative candidates (mostly Democrat) and left-leaning 527 organizations.

At a minimum, that’s 126,863 anonymous campaign donations that helped elect Colorado’s state government.

Earlier this year, I helped draft legislation (HB06-1135) that would have required a name to be attached to most of these contributions. Unfortunately the bill died in committee.