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Union contributions 'huge'

Political donations topped $1.3 million before crackdown

Burt Hubbard, Rocky Mountain News

Published September 6, 2006 at midnight

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Unions used small-donor committees and their higher contribution limits to pump more than $1.3 million into state races and political committees before Secretary of State Gigi Dennis' ruling last month to crack down on them.

The amount is 10 times more than political donations from all other small-donor committees combined and accounts for more than 40 percent of the money raised so far by Democratic candidates in key races that likely will decide control of the state legislature, according to a Rocky Mountain News analysis.

"That's huge, $1.3 million," said Republican political analyst and consultant Katy Atkinson. "If you divide that up between 10 targeted House and Senate races, it's absolutely huge."

Small-donor committees were first created two years ago as a result of a campaign finance reform measure approved by voters in 2002. As long as the committees don't accept individual donations greater than $50, they can contribute 10 times as much as individuals or other political committees.

For a state legislative race, small-donor groups can donate up to $4,000 to each candidate, compared with $400 for all other donors. In the governor's race, the limit is $10,000 compared with $1,000. Unions, using members' dues, have taken advantage of the committees more than any other group and primarily have used the money for Democratic candidates.

State Democratic Party leaders praise the union, small-donor committees as examples of small contributors banding together to flex their political muscle.

"These are all the ways that ordinary, working people can pool their political voice," said Mitch Ackerman, president of the Service Employees International Union, local 105 in Colorado.

Republicans decry them as a way for Democrats to funnel large sums of anonymous donations into political races. Most union member donations are under $20 and not subject to disclosure.

"All of the money going into those small-donor committees are anonymous," said Rob Fairbank, a Republican campaign consultant and former state legislator. "The voters in that district have absolutely no idea of the names of the people behind that money."

Secretary of State Dennis shook up the status quo on small-donor committees Aug. 2 when she issued new rules that require all political committees that depend on membership dues for donations to get written approval from each person. She also ruled that the groups attest that all of the money came from American citizens.

Several unions and Democrats sued and the matter is now in Denver District Court.

Before the ruling, the union groups in Colorado had doled out $1.35 million to candidates, political parties and 527 committees that underwrite independent campaigns for and against candidates, the News analysis of campaign filings found. Most of the donations were made in the past four months.

All other small-donor groups, such as Realtors and physicians, had combined to donate only $117,000 to candidates and committees, according to the analysis.

The News looked at campaign filings in three House and two Senate races that could be key to which party controls the state legislature next year. The five Democrats in the race had gotten 38 to 48 percent of their campaign money so far from the union, small-donor groups.

Two of the Republicans had no donations from small-donor groups and two others had one donation each. The fifth Republican, incumbent state Sen. Ed Jones, received $6,000 of the $9,995 he has raised so far from two small-donor committees representing insurance and real estate interests.

Democrats now hold a one-seat edge in the Senate and a five-seat edge in the House.

"Clearly, this is a tool that Democrats are using very extensively, particularly with the focus on legislative races," said political analyst Eric Sondermann. "Republicans are unable to combat it."

The governor's race is equally one-sided. Democratic candidate Bill Ritter has received $139,000 from union, small-donor groups compared with the $5,500 Republican candidate Bob Beauprez has gotten from two non-union, small- donor committees, the campaign filings said.

Several of the larger unions have used the small-donor groups to make sizable donations to the 527 committees, named after the federal tax law that created them. The committees can collect unlimited donations to run political campaigns as long as they do not coordinate with the candidates.

The SEIU union gave $200,000 to the Colorado Voter Project and $66,666 to Citizens for Colorado this year, according to campaign filings.

The impact of Dennis' ruling on the small-donor groups is unclear, officials said. Colorado Deputy Attorney General Jason Dunn said attorneys are working on how to implement the approval requirement and determine when it would take effect. The next campaign filing deadline is Sept. 7.

Mark Grueskin, attorney for the group challenging the ruling, said he is not sure what the small-donor groups will do.

"People are going to have to decide frankly whether they are going to file or not going to file or whether they are going to submit a document that they can attest to, as they always have," Grueskin said.

Dana Williams, spokeswoman for Dennis, said the ruling on American citizens just means campaign officials must sign the box at the bottom of the campaign filing form that to the "best of their knowledge" the money came from U.S. citizens.

However, Democrats and unions fear Dennis' ruling will slow the flow of small-donor money and charge it was politically motivated. Dennis is a former Republican state senator.

"It does have a chilling effect in that people are not quite sure what it means," Colorado Democratic Party Chairwoman Pat Waak said. "It's clearly a very political act on the part of the secretary of state."

But Bob Martinez, chairman of the Colorado Republican Party, said the ruling rights a wrong created by campaign finance reform.

"I think that's legitimate. When people contribute to those organizations, they would like to know where their money is going," he said.

Dennis said the rules apply to Democrats and Republicans.

"The rules adopted by this office require any membership organization, whether Republican or Democrat, to ask their members for permission before transferring dues to candidates," Dennis said in prepared statement."

SEIU's Ackerman said the union anticipated Dennis' ruling and moved money into the small-donor groups before it was issued.

"We made sure we funded our small-donor committees before the ruling went into effect," he said.

The group's campaign filing showed it got $656,000 from the national union in July. It still has more than $400,000 left to spend.

Where's the money?

How candidates in five key legislative seats fared with union, small-donor committees.

• House District 23 Jefferson County

Gwyn Green, D

Total fundraising: $42,000

Small-donor contributions: $16,000

Ramey Johnson, R

Total fundraising: $23,550

Small-donor contributions: 0

• House District 29 Jefferson County

Debbie Benefield, D

Total fundraising: $51,948

Small-donor contributions: $21,950

Affie Ellis, R

Total fundraising: $25,700

Small-donor contributions: 0

• House District 50 Weld County

Jim Riesberg, D

Total fundraising: $47,436

Small-donor contributions: $21,000

Dave Owen, R

Total fundraising: $20,045

Small-donor contributions: $2,000*

• Senate District 11 El Paso County

John Morse, D

Total fundraising: $45,122

Small-donor contributions: $21,500

Ed Jones, R

Total fundraising: $9,995

Small-donor contributions: $6,000*

• Senate District 21 Jefferson County

Betty Boyd, D

Total fundraising: $52,781

Small-donor contributions: $21,000

Matt Knoedler, R

Total fundraising: $31,995

Small-donor contributions: $4,000**Money Donated By Non-Union, Small-Donor Groups. Source: Campaign Filings At The Colorado Secretary Of State'S Office From January 2005 To July 2006.

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