Colorado Democrats, coming off a legislative session that ended with Republicans killing a civil-unions bill, are saturating local races with super-PAC money in an effort to retake control of the state House and preserve a Senate majority.
Two liberal groups have already infused more than $725,000 into one race — the newly drawn Senate District 35, which includes 16 counties in southern and southwestern Colorado.
"I haven't kept a tabulation, but I don't remember any (local) race attracting that much money," said John Straayer, a political-science professor at Colorado State University. "The Democrats have a good chance to take back the House, but it's certainly not a slam-dunk."
Conservative groups are barely
playing the super-PAC game: Only 8 percent of the $2.6 million spent through Oct. 15 came from groups supporting Republican candidates, a Denver Post analysis found.The GOP has ripped a few pages from the Democrats' playbook, however, constructing layers of political infrastructure to handle policy issues, media, opposition research and tracking candidates. Like Democrats, they are also raising millions of dollars through 527 groups and directing the money into direct mailings and other media.
Additionally, the GOP has at least one powerful group — Compass Colorado — that has put a total of $300,000 into two House contests and one Senate race and is expected to add $200,000 more by Election Day. The tax-exempt group does not have to disclose its donors.
"Republicans are starting to learn from their ample history of mistakes, " said Jon Caldara, president of the conservative Independence Institute. "Instead of betting on a candidate, they're finally learning to build a racetrack."
When GOP House leadership in May killed a bill recognizing civil unions for same-sex couples, politically active gays and lesbians vowed they would fight back. Now, a network of nonprofits and political committees, partly or largely funded by pro-civil- union interests, are using super PACs to fill mailboxes and cable channels with ads aimed at giving Democrats control of both legislative chambers. If that happens, a civil-unions bill could go to Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper as early as January.
And if they succeed, Colorado — dubbed the "hate state" 20 years ago after voters backed a constitutional amendment prohibiting legal protections for gays and lesbians — could wind up with gay men in charge of both halls of the General Assembly: House Minority Leader Mark Ferrandino and Sen. Pat Steadman, both of whom are from Denver.
"It certainly shows how much this state has changed," said Denver pollster Floyd Ciruli, noting that voters narrowly shot down a civil-unions measure in 2006. "Polls show there isn't that much anxiety over (civil unions) anymore."
The Democrats are down one seat in the House but up five seats in the Senate. Although they have a comfortable edge in the Senate, Democratic sources said they need to keep it because at least two seats are vulnerable in 2014 because of reapportionment.
In 2010, Democratic super PACs — or independent expenditure committees — outspent Republicans nearly 150-to-1 and won 17 of 24 races they targeted with that money, according to a Denver Post analysis. This cycle, liberal groups are again collaborating, coordinating and spending, with some committees using their money for fundraising, polling or consulting while other groups put out mailers and television and radio ads.
Two groups — the Coalition for Colorado's Future and the Community Information Project — have spent more than $725,000 supporting Democratic Costilla County Commissioner Crestina Martinez, who is running against Republican Larry Crowder, a farmer and rancher. In contrast, GOP-backed super PACs have put $28,925 into the race.
Martinez's candidate committee has raised $125,000 — nearly twice the amount Crowder has.
Three independent expenditure groups have poured $230,698 into the race to unseat Republican Rep. J. Paul Brown, who is being challenged by Democrat Mike McLachlan. Brown is one of at least three GOP incumbents specifically targeted by Fight Back Colorado for opposing civil unions. The other two targets are incumbent Republican Reps. Robert Ramirez of Westminster and Cindy Acree of Aurora.
Although the GOP is struggling on the super-PAC front, 527 groups supporting Republican candidates have raised more than $4 million. Organizations such as the Colorado Leadership Fund LLC have spent nearly $300,000 on state House races, according to filings with the Colorado secretary of state.
In addition, Republican-backed Compass Colorado has spent $300,000 on cable-TV ads on behalf of Lang Sias, who is running against Democrat Evie Hudak in Senate District 19; David Pigott, who is running against Dianne Primavera in House District 33; and Rick Enstrom, who faces incumbent Rep. Max Tyler in House District 23.
The 527 groups backing Democrats have raised more than $5.6 million.
"What we have still pales in comparison to the Democrats," Caldara said. "But we're learning."
Karen E. Crummy: 303-954-1594, kcrummy@denverpost.com or twitter.com/karencrummy
Key definitions
Super PACs — Super PACs, or independent expenditure committees, operate at both state and national levels. They are allowed to directly advocate for or against a candidate using what has become known as the magic words": "vote for," "reject," "defeat," or "elect" a specific candidate. Donors and disbursements must be disclosed.
527s — Named after the applicable section of the tax code that governs them, 527s are independent political committees that can spend unlimited amounts of money as long as they don't specifically advocate for the election or defeat of a candidate or coordinate with a candidate. For instance, they are limited to stating "call your legislator and tell her to vote no" on a certain issue. Donors and disbursements must be disclosed.
501(c)(4) —Is a non-profit known as a social welfare group, It can make independent expenditures and engage in political activity as long as that activity is not its primary purpose. These groups, named after the applicable tax code, do not have to identify their donors. Expenditures are disclosed annually in IRS filings.
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