Last month, we reported on the media production group Redbarre that somehow convinced the Governor to host a Capitol press conference attended by numerous elected officials and Hickenlooper Administration bureaucrats. The idea was to build a massive, billion-dollar, Hollywood-style video production studio in…Parker, Colorado.
This media show was little more than a desperate attempt by the Governor’s Film Office to justify its existence, coming just days after a devastating audit showed, among numerous other things, that this agency handed out money to production firms that did not qualify for benefits, and that agency could not verify any benefit to the state’s economy as a result of the more than $10 million “invested” in the office.
As part of the media campaign around the Governor’s press conference, Redbarre COO Phillip Infelise claimed that his organization was arranging a syndicate of three global financial institutions to back the deal. “The Goldman Sachs of the world…in ten days we’ll be signed, sealed, and delivered, and then we’ll do a public announcement” Infelise was quoted as saying in the Denver Post.
Given the complexities that we assume surround a billion dollar syndicated credit deal, we were rather surprised that a senior executive would come out ten days before closing and predict such an outcome, while naming Goldman and promising a “public announcement.” It’s just…unusual.
And now, nearly a month later, we’re still waiting on that “public announcement” of the financing. We reached out to Goldman for comment via Twitter, but have not heard back yet. (Hey guys, your media page links are broken, btw.)
As for Redbarre, it’s been weeks since this media company tweeted, but they have upped their Twitter followers to a solid 29. We’re still looking for a shred of evidence of those 5,001 – 10,000 employees that Redbarre claimed on its LinkedIn profile last month, and not holding our breath.
Whether or not this Redbarre project turns out to be a giant hoax, it is time for a serious look at cutting off Hickenlooper’s Film Office, which seems to produce little more than government busywork for unaccountable bureaucrats at great expense to Colorado taxpayers.