E-mails contradict lobbyist

Records tie official of Colo. Concern to deceptive calls

Lynn Bartels, Rocky Mountain News

Published April 5, 2007 at midnight

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E-mails contradict a lobbyist's claim that his well-heeled organization had nothing to do with a deceptive phone-call campaign conducted in March.

The calls warned voters that a construction-defects bill in the legislature favored trial lawyers and would raise taxes.

The e-mails, obtained by the Rocky Mountain News, are between a Virginia company that produced the calls and William Mutch, lobbyist and director of Colorado Concern.

"Thank you for the call yesterday regarding the pending legislation that Colorado Concern may want to try and influence in Colorado," the Virginia executive wrote to Mutch. Later e-mails include ideas for scripts for the calls. Mutch last week told the Rocky that Colorado Concern, a consortium of the state's most powerful business leaders, had nothing to do with the calls. He said a developer who is chairman of the group was behind the calls, but was acting independently.

Mutch did not return calls or e-mails on Thursday.

Both Mutch and Steve Durham, lobbyist for the Colorado Association of Home Builders, have been named in an ethics complaint filed with legislative leaders over the calls.

In March, the calls went to senior citizens in certain Democratic districts. The seniors were told their local lawmaker supported a bill that would increase taxes. No such bill existed at the time. The bill eventually introduced, House Bill 1338, does not increase taxes.

The legislature's executive committee will discuss the ethics complaint today. Ultimately, the lobbyists can be censured or receive letters of admonition, but they won't lose their lobbying privileges.

Rob Nanfelt, a top official with the home builders, said Wednesday that neither Durham nor his organization were behind the calls. Nanfelt is upset that Durham has been targeted with an ethics complaint. He released the e-mails to try to clear Durham's name.According to secretary of state records, contributors to Colorado Concern's political committee in 2006 include prominent Coloradans Larry Mizel, Dan Ritchie, Dick Monfort, the Denver Broncos, Barry Hirschfeld, Leo Kiely, Linda Childears, Tim Gill and Joe Blake.

Nanfelt said business officials heard that a bill might be introduced that would try to undo some of the gains the construction industry made in 2003 when lawmakers passed a defects bill limiting home builders' liability.

Nanfelt said his association and Colorado Concern agreed to work together on the new bill, but did not agree on the calls.

"We actually took steps trying to discourage the calls from happening," Nanfelt said, saying he advised Mutch on Feb. 26 and Feb. 27 against the calls.

"I said this was a bad idea. I said you don't have a bill. You don't have a bill number. You don't even know what committee this is going to be assigned to."

Rep. Nancy Todd, D-Aurora, and Rep. Alice Borodkin, D-Denver, were among the lawmakers who received complaints from constituents about the calls.

"I had someone say, 'I voted for you, and I'll never support you again because you're going to vote for this bill,' " Todd said.

"I had no idea what bill they were talking about."

Borodkin, said she complained to Nanfelt because her seniors said the words "home builder" had been mentioned. Nanfelt said he called Mutch and told him, "You need to fix this."

House Bill 1338 was introduced two days after the calls began. It would prevent home buyers from being forced to sign builder warranties that strip away their legal rights to have defects fixed.

The e-mails

The exchanges concerning phone calls that went to constituents in Democratic lawmakers' districts blasting a construction defects bill:

•William Mutch, executive director of Colorado Concern, in a Feb. 24 e-mail to the Virginia company handling the calls: "Do you think the script is hard hitting enough - or do we need to add things like this bill could make it tougher to sell your home or increase your liability when you sell your home . . . ?"

• Gabe Joseph, president of ccAdvertising, in response: "I recommend calling this bill the 'Trial Lawyer Tax.' We recommend we make the issue about greedy trial lawyers. Colorado citizens hate trial lawyers a lot more than builders."

• Mutch to Rob Nanfelt, Colorado Association of Home Builders, on March 5: "The calls are running."

• Nanfelt, who had advised against the calls, in response: "I'm a little disappointed . . . I disagreed with the phone call approach . . . ."

bartels@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5327

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