A political nonprofit linked to Gov. Jared Polis has admitted to violating Colorado’s campaign finance laws and will pay an $18,000 fine and disclose its donors under a settlement agreement with state election officials.
Boldly Forward Colorado, created in 2018 to pay for Polis’ transition team, donated nearly $352,000 last year to Property Tax Relief Now. That issue committee spent close to $3 million to promote Proposition HH, a ballot measure backed by Polis that would have overhauled Colorado’s property tax system and made big changes to state spending.
Voters overwhelmingly rejected the measure in the November 2023 election.
The Public Trust Institute, a conservative political nonprofit, filed the complaint against Boldly Forward in January, arguing its contributions to Property Tax Relief Now were so large that they required the group to file as an issue committee and report its donors.
Chris Beall, Colorado’s deputy secretary of state, signed off on the settlement agreement early Friday.
Boldly Forward spent $1.2 million total in 2021, 2022 and 2023, according to the settlement agreement. The contributions to Property Tax Relief Now accounted for 29% of that spending, over the limit set by a bipartisan 2022 law outlining when political nonprofits must report their donors.
The law was signed by Polis.
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The settlement noted that under state rules, the fine could have been more than $54,000. The governor’s office referred a request for comment to the spokeswoman for Boldly Forward Colorado.
“We supported Prop HH openly and transparently by contributing disclosed contributions to that ballot initiative,” said Amber Miller, a spokeswoman for the group. “At the time, we believed we were meeting all filing requirements. Once we received this complaint, we moved expeditiously to work with the Secretary of State to remedy and are now working with them on next steps.”
As of midday Friday, Boldly Forward had not filed as an issue committee and reported its donors as required in the settlement agreement.
Boldly Forward Colorado donated $50,000 to support the successful 2020 campaign to increase nicotine and tobacco taxes to fund preschool access in Colorado. It also gave $10,000 each to support the successful 2020 ballot measure that repealed the Gallagher Amendment and the successful 2023 measure that allowed the state to retain the excess revenue it has collected from the increased tobacco and nicotine taxes.
Boldly Forward reported revenue of less than $50,000 in 2022 and $112,500 in 2021. The nonprofit has yet to file a tax return for 2023.
Other political nonprofits have been ordered to report their donors and file as issue or campaign committees in the past:
- Colorado Stop the Wolf Coalition was ordered in 2021 to file its list of contributors and expenditures on a successful 2020 ballot measure to reintroduce wolves. But the group reported only about $2,400 in contributions and more than $58,000 in spending. It paid only $1,000 of the $22,000 fine levied by the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office. The organization said it couldn’t afford to pay the rest of the fine.
- A district court judge overturned a Secretary of State’s Office ruling requiring Unite for Colorado, a conservative political nonprofit, to report its donors after it spent large sums to support and oppose several 2020 ballot measures. An appeals court overruled the district court in March, and the case is on appeal to the Colorado Supreme Court.
- Colorado Pioneer Action was fined nearly $18,000 in 2017 after it donated to a super PAC targeting Republicans in competitive 2016 primaries. The committee, operated by former Republican U.S. Rep. Bob Beauprez, filed as a political committee and reported more than $808,000 in donations.