In a shocking turn of events, soft money groups are buying TV ads and mailpieces. The battle for control of the state Senate is raging between Democrat Jessie Danielson and Republican Christine Jensen. Both are vying for the seat previously held by Democrat-turned-Independent state Sen. Cheri Jahn, who is term limited.
Danielson is, ahem, peak faux outrage over spending against it. In fact, she’s been complaining about it for weeks. In a plea to her supporters (for more cash, of course), Danielson claims, “I have an important update on my race. The negative attacks by secretive, dark money groups have begun.”
Oh, the hypocrisy.
What the Danielson campaign fails to mention is that Danielson spent years trashing candidates across the nation when she served as Colorado State Director of dark money pioneer America Votes, one of the most hyper-partisan outfits in town. Voters who buy into Danielson’s pity party narrative, should know that she deployed or funded hit pieces on Colorado candidates for years, before running herself…using dark money.
According to the Center for Responsive Politics:
“While America Votes is a national organization, it does have state-based affiliates across the country. Although Colorado is one of America Votes’ ‘core states,’ it is still noteworthy that the national organization decided to devote so much attention to this one state, rather than any of their other 20 state affiliates. Following the money trail ultimately revealed the elections in Colorado as the likely reason committees based in the state were receiving extra attention from America Votes.”
While Danielson was at America Votes during 2007-2013, she reported to former Senate President Joan Fitzgerald, who helped mastermind the takeover of the State Senate using third party, secretive groups that inspired the book The Blueprint, otherwise known as Polis’ Foundation to Run for Governor.
Even being over a decade old, America Votes still remains a secretive organization, the darkest of dark money groups. From the Center for Responsive Politics:
“The 990 form for America Votes for the 2015-16 fiscal year was the first piece to this dark money puzzle. The tax document showed America Votes gave grants to four different Colorado-based organizations, including Common Sense Values (the 527 organization). The $138,750 Common Sense Values reported it received from America Votes was through one of these grants. America Votes’ super PAC also gave Common Sense Values an additional $46,250.”
Danielson’s feigned outrage at so-called dark money being used now in her race rings hollow.