Dark Money Threatens to Buy State School Board Seat
A very concerning development has been brought to the forefront in the Colorado State Board of Education race. The Boulder CD-2 seat, which is being sought by both Boulder Progressives-endorsed candidate Kathy Gebhardt and her opponent Marisol Rodriguez, has been the subject of nearly six hundred thousand dollars in outside special interest spending.
This dark money campaign is being spent to promote Marisol Rodriguez and to run attack ads against Kathy Gebhardt. The hundreds of thousands of dollars in special interest funding are being funneled through an independent expenditure committee calling itself “Progressives Supporting Teachers and Students", while the money is difficult to trace, filings show that it is funded in large part or entirely by the Colorado League of Charter Schools political action group and related entities and interests. The total amount of money reported spent so far is $569,594.99, with 12 days still left in this campaign.
Kathy Gebhardt has had no outside money spent on her campaign at this time, and has raised around $57,000 for her campaign from a combination of individual contribution and donations from teachers unions. In addition to being endorsed by Boulder Progressives, Kathy’s endorsement list is very lengthy and diverse, including the Colorado Education Association, several other district education association from across the state, Colorado Working Families Party, Joe Neguse, Lisa Calderon, Steve Fenberg, Lorena Garcia, Judy Amabile, Richard Garcia, Janice Marchman, Rhonda Solis, Josie Heath and many more notable advocates and elected officials from across the state.
Don’t let special interests buy this seat away from voters, don’t let dark money make decisions for the future of our children - vote Kathy Gebhardt and stand up to this kind of dark money special interest takeover.
See more about the State Board Education race and all of the other contests on your ballot at our comprehensive voter guide. And make sure you vote in this incredibly important election no later than June 25th!
Learn more about this developing story at Forbes: Colorado State Board Of Education Primary Election Attracts Big Money, and in this Colorado Time Recorder piece by Mike DeGuire.
