Tag: Shawn Mitchell

Three weeks after The Colorado Independent launched a series of reports detailing the shadowy group Western Skies Coalition, the watchdog group Colorado Ethics Watch has filed an IRS complaint asking for an immediate investigation into whether Western Skies, along with three other 501(c)4 nonprofits, are truly engaged in “social welfare” activities — or if their activities are actually more akin to hard core politicking.

The Colorado Conservation Voters Campaign Fund unveiled a new television campaign Monday to counter a Western Skies Coalition ad that inaccurately portrayed State Sen....

Rep. Frank McNulty is one of a trio of GOP state lawmakers thought to be behind the Western Skies Coalition — a Virginia corporation raising oil and gas money to target key state senate races. In an interview with Colorado Independent, McNulty (R-Highlands Ranch) declined to discuss the group's funding sources Tuesday, but he did acknowledge signing its “Energy Leadership Action Plan” pledge.

Oil and gas companies doing business in Colorado have dropped a mind-blowing $10 million into Amendment 58 — a statewide initiative that would cut their state severance tax and raise roughly $321 million a year for college scholarships, wildlife habitat and other programs. But when it comes to whether big oil may be pumping in cash to help Republicans retake control of the state Senate, well, they're just not saying. And in fact, they don't have to.

It’s as clear as the Western Skies: Nonprofit 501(c)4s are the new 527s of the Colorado political scene, the latest way that shadowy special interest groups are tapping into seemingly unlimited undisclosed special interest cash to attack or support candidates who can further their agendas. Take, for instance, the Western Skies Coalition, a conservative group claiming to be a 501(c)4 nonprofit dedicated to “promoting issues that make our nation great.”

The Western Skies Coalition, a conservative Virginia corporation with an office in Littleton, is allegedly being used by state Sen. Josh Penry (R-Fruita) to raise funds from oil and gas companies in a bid target several key Colorado state Senate races and win back a Republican majority in 2010, according to several sources.

A conservative Colorado political group allegedly backed by big-oil money and calling itself the Western Skies Coalition has targeted key state Senate races, apparently bent on portraying pro-oil Republicans vying for those seats as champions of alternative energy.

Heralding a "sea-change of who's in power," House Majority Leader Alice Madden and Speaker Andrew Romanoff on Wednesday hammered out a list of successes...

After the Senate passed House Bill 1292 this morning, Colorado schools that teach sex education will likely soon be required to "at least mention"...