The political ad that talks about the money spent to help elect Kelly Brough’s opponent, Mike Johnston, leaves out the outside money that benefits her.
DENVER – Denver mayoral candidate Kelly Brough is coming out with a political ad that starts off negative and then turns cheesy.
The political ad tries to highlight the big outside money being spent to help elect his opponent, Mike Johnston.
The ad leaves out the outside money that also benefits it.
CLAIM ADVERTISEMENT: “A Denver voter can give $500 directly to a mayoral candidate.”
VERDICT: The dollar amount is correct, but you don’t have to be a Denver voter. Anyone can contribute up to $500 directly to Brough or Johnston’s mayoral campaign.
The limit is $500 because they both contribute to the Fair Elections Fund. This fund is Denver taxpayer money matched nine times with contributions of up to $50.
If someone contributes $50, the candidate gets $450 from the city.
If either candidate had opted out of the Fair Elections Fund, they could have received up to $1,000 from an individual.
As the campaign announcement marks the limit, let’s take a look at the two candidates together.
Amount Contributed Total Contributions Percent of Denver Residents
Brough $895,613 ~ $4,300 69%
Johnston $932,060 ~ $5,500 42%
Both candidates received money from outside of Colorado.
Brough received 184 contributions from 37 other states, Washington, DC and Puerto Rico.
Johnston received 1,400 contributions from people in 41 other states and Washington, DC
CLAIM ADVERTISEMENT: “But two out-of-state billionaires gave $1.8 million to elect Mike Johnston. Almost two million from two guys who don’t live here.” (Ad features Mike Bloomberg and Reid Hoffman)
VERDICT: It’s true that former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg and LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman have contributed $1.8 million, but not directly to Johnston’s campaign. That would violate the $500 limit.
His money goes to Advancing Denver, a political action committee that can receive unlimited amounts of money and a committee that Johnston can have nothing to do with.
Advancing Denver has received $4.1 million. Right after the April election, that committee had $2.2 million.
The money comes from Bloomberg, Hoffman, former DaVita CEO Kent Thiry and 67 others. Most of the contributions come from people in Colorado, although most of the money comes from people outside of Colorado.
Brough’s ad does not mention the political action committee supporting his mayoral bid. It’s called A Better Denver and it’s the group behind a Johnston attack ad that tried to twist a 9NEWS report about Johnston’s resume.
A Better Denver has $1.4 million in contributions. Right after the April election, that committee had $984,000.
The largest contributor is nearly half a million from the National Association of Realtors.
Two local backers include developer Cal Fulenwider and beer mogul Pete Coors.
Fulenwider, who has contributed to the US Senate campaigns of Republicans Mitt Romney and Joe O’Dea, gave the political action committee $50,000.
Coors, who is also running for the U.S. Senate as a Republican, also contributed $50,000.
Colorado News created an easy-to-read chart showing the most money contributed to political action committees.
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