opinion
DYERTIMES from Page 11
groups) that appear to support increased oil and gas extraction in Colorado. It has been described as the industry’s dirty tricks machine. Long story short, if you want to get elected as a Republican in Colorado, you have to have the support of Colorado Concern and the Starboard Group. And if you want their support and their money, you have to be pro-oil and gas, pro-fracking and anti-direct democracy. And it’s not just Republicans dancing to Colorado Concern’s tune. The largest funder of Colorado’s Democratic Party, Tim Gill, is also a Colorado Concern member, and supposed Democrats like Governor John Hickenlooper have many connections inside Colorado Concern. And Colorado Concern’s stated goals are pretty simple. Among a few other things, they want oil and gas production to be unimpeded by government and the state constitution and they want to make it nearly impossible for the citizens of Colorado to use direct democracy by way of the initiative process in the future. That’s right, it’s Colorado Concern members who are the real force behind this year’s Amendment 71, known as the Raise the Bar initiative. This initiative, should voters pass it, has been designed specifically to make it nearly impossible for ordinary citizens to ever use the direct democracy process offered by the current initiative process again. Number 71 would make it many times more expensive and logistically more difficult to get an initiative on the ballot in the future, leaving the process open only to extremely well-funded organizations such as, you guessed it, Colorado Concern, CRED, Vital for Colorado and other industry groups. So back to our friend Secretary of State Wayne Williams. What can I say about the way he has handled this year’s initiative process? First, I should point out that Williams was indeed chosen by the Starboard Group’s wealthy, pro-oil donors to run for Secretary of State. And I think it’s clear now why they chose him. Consider this recent incident: When his own hand-picked communications director Lynn Bartels inappropriately tweeted out photos of empty boxes and questioned whether proponents of 75 and 78 had turned in enough signatures to make the ballot, Williams didn’t do the proper thing and fire her on the spot. No, Williams sat silently by as her partisan, industryinfluenced tweets were, as I suspect was the plan all along, turned into news headlines questioning whether the 12 September 1, 2016
whole Initiative 75 and 78 signature turn-in had been nothing more than a publicity stunt. I should also point out that the only “news” outlets running these headlines derived from Bartels’ tweets were from organizations getting oil-industry ad dollars, but I’m sure that’s just a coincidence. Then consider the path of another recent Secretary of State spokesperson, Rich Coolidge. This guy left his Secretary of State position in 2015 to work for none other than Josh Penry’s EIS Solutions. And where does Coolidge’s name show up these days? He’s listed as the contact person for the Raise the Bar initiative. Another remarkable coincidence, don’t you think? Seriously, could the Secretary of State’s office get any deeper into bed with the oil and gas industry and its backers? Yep. Now there are questions being raised about alleged campaign finance violations concerning the Raise the Bar initiative, so what is Secretary of State Williams doing about it? Is he launching a thorough investigation into the allegations? No, instead he’s apparently intervening on behalf of Initiative 71, an initiative supported by Colorado Concern and being managed in part by at least one of his former employees who just happens to work with William’s campaign fundraiser and consultant’s husband’s oil-and-gas-funded firm. Can you say inbred? Maybe Williams’ office could have more thoroughly looked into the alleged violations concerning the Raise the Bar initiative if it hadn’t been so busy scrutinizing all the signatures on Initiatives 75 and 78. But at least that extra scrutiny paid off for Williams’ puppeteers. Miraculously, Williams’ office was able to turn up three “potentially forged” signatures out of the 214,000 that were submitted for Initiatives 75 and 78. Yes, you read that right; three as in 3 as in III. So what possible purpose, or more accurately put, motive, could Williams have had for putting out a press release about three questionable signatures gathered by some pimple-faced, 18-year-old signature gatherer? The answer would be “none” if not for the Colorado-Concern-influenced Denver Post that treated it with the overblown importance of a Lynn Bartels tweet. I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried. As most of you know by now, the CEO/Publisher of the Denver Post, Mac Tully, the ad salesman turned exec who has the power to decide who gets laid off and who runs the newsroom at the state’s largest newspaper, is actually a member of Colorado Concern. That’s right, the principle watchdog over the
intersection of corporate influence on elected officials is a member of the state’s largest corporate influencer over our elected officials. I know I use the word “actually” every time I write about this, but I just can’t help it. I’m still dumbfounded that this incredible conflict of interest is allowed to exist and that the newsroom at the Post isn’t telling its readers about it and demanding that it be stopped. It must be an incredible embarrassment for the serious journalists left in that newsroom. And it is a big deal. As BW reported a few weeks ago (see boulderweekly.com/news/behind-closeddoors-2/), a representative of CRED — the industry front group funded by Anadarko and Noble — was heard on a recording provided by Greenpeace at an industry gathering describing how CRED uses the Denver Post’s editorial board to help it create a “one-two punch” against the anti-fracking movement so it can do things like take over local city councils to make sure nothing gets in the way of fracking. I don’t have to tell you that when a newspaper being run by an executive tied to a pro-oil and gas lobbying group like Colorado Concern is being used to help the industry “take over” local city councils in order to further the industry’s goals, it makes for a big credibility problem. It naturally raises the question of what other areas of news coverage, aside from fracking, are being slanted at the Post. How about coverage of K to 12 education “reform” or construction defects laws, two other areas of interest where Tully’s Colorado Concern has been actively attempting to sway the state legislature. Are stories on these subjects getting the same sort of special treatment as the oil and gas industry? We just don’t know, and that’s the problem when a newspaper loses its credibility. Now we have to question everything it writes. So in addition to Secretary of State Williams wasting taxpayer dollars to find three potentially forged signatures out of 214,000, he now says he may turn them over to Attorney General Cynthia Coffman for prosecution so we can waste some more taxpayer money. FYI: most attorneys general would laugh off such a request for prosecution but like Williams, Coffman too was funded and chosen for office by the donors of the Starboard Group. So who knows what her marching orders are. The only logical explanation I can come up with for Williams and Coffman pursuing this silly three-signature retaliation is that it would create more Denver Post headlines to discredit those opposing oil and gas extraction near their homes, and to send a mes-
sage to any who would dare to attempt to put forward anti-oil and gas initiatives in the future. I have to admit, it’s a powerful message to tell people who might someday want to volunteer to gather signatures for an initiative not supported by Colorado Concern or its industry pals; that collecting one bad signature could get you prosecuted by the state’s attorney general. It’s both powerful and sad and just another example of what I view as impropriety or at the very least, the appearance of impropriety on the part of the Secretary of State’s office. Our elected officials may run for office as a Republicans or Democrats, but once they take the oath of office they are to serve all of the citizens of Colorado fairly and without bias. I think it’s impossible to look at the treatment of the various initiatives this year by the Secretary of State’s office — treatment that appears to be based upon whether an initiative is supported or opposed by Colorado Concern and the oil and gas industry — and not see it as uneven, unfair and unworthy of Colorado’s democratic process. So what should we do about it? First and foremost, we need to be informed voters. These polluting oil and gas corporations and wealthy individuals can only rule us if we continue to let them. Vote down their Raise the Bar Initiative 71 and thereby preserve our last defense against their ability to buy our public officials and push their self-serving agendas. And then vote against every politician or initiative receiving money from the Starboard Group and/or any member of Colorado Concern, regardless of which party they are in. Take back your democracy, Colorado. Take it back from the people who have stolen it from you. It doesn’t matter if you are a Boulder fractivist, a gun-rights proponent from Grand Junction, a religious conservative in Colorado Springs, an environmentalist in Durango or a fifthgeneration farmer from the San Luis Valley, as long as the oil and gas industry and its millionaire backers are deciding who gets elected in this state, you lose. This is bigger than any one issue. This is about whether we are going to choose to restore our democracy or continue to be governed by a handful of the state’s wealthiest individuals and corporations. And it’s our choice not theirs. So follow the money before you check that box on your ballot. It may be the most important thing you’ll do this year. Boulder Weekly