



The committee fighting the municipalization ballot question voters face May 5 has reported $700,000 in fundraising so far.

Mayor Nick Gradisar and City Attorney Dan Kogovsek want to know who has donated money to the cause, even though the Pueblo City Council struck down a resolution urging the committee to disclose that information.

Council members voted 4-3 against the resolution last week asking Pueblo CARES to comply with the Fair Campaign Practices Act by disclosing the names and addresses of individual contributors for the committee, which aims to defeat the municipalization ballot measure.

Council members Larry Atencio, Dennis Flores, Lori Winner and Bob Schilling voted against the resolution.

At the heart of the matter are two separate contributions made from the Pueblo CARES education committee to the Pueblo CARES issue committee of $600,000 and $100,000.

Records filed with the city do not list individual contributors. The Pueblo CARES issue committee, which formed in late February, is listed as the committee receiving the contributions, while Pueblo CARES, the education committee that formed in November, is listed as the contributor on both forms.

The city clerk on March 11 wrote a letter to Pueblo CARES asking if they would list the names of their contributors, Kogovsek said, and on March 16 the attorney for Pueblo CARES wrote back saying they did not have to file reports regarding the $700,000 in contributions.

"His view (Pueblo CARES’ attorney) was that Pueblo CARES was not formed in connection with the upcoming election. He claims that it was an educational committee and not a campaign committee, and because its purpose was educational and not to oppose ballot question 2A (the municipalization ballot question) they were not going to release the names of the people who donated the $700,000, which Pueblo CARES then donated to a new committee called the Pueblo CARES issue committee," Kogovsek said during a recent council meeting during which the resolution was mentioned. "I’ve been a lawyer for 44 years and I’ve seen a lot of legal baloney, but this takes the cake. It’s absurd for them to claim that Pueblo CARES has nothing to do with the election. To me that’s a clear violation of the Fair Campaign Practices Act."

Since January, Pueblo CARES has been paying for commercials that have aired in Pueblo challenging the city’s plan to end its agreement with Black Hills and form its own utility.

Kogovsek said he advised Gradisar to sue Pueblo CARES to get a court determination on the matter before the election, it’s unfeasible because there’s no way to get a legal determination in the next three weeks.

In the absence of legal relief, Kogovsek and Gradisar wanted council members to approve the resolution to establish transparency, Kogovsek said.

"Why are they afraid of disclosing who donated the $700,000? I think the voters should be entitled to that," Kogovsek said, noting that the group Bring Power Home, which is supporting municipalization, has filed detailed finance reports, including the names of individual people who have donated.

Council President Dennis Flores said there are council members who are against municipalization, and questioned why the mayor’s office needed the council’s approval in urging Pueblo CARES to list its contributors.

"What did we expect Black Hills to do? We expected Black Hills to fight tooth-and-nail to keep their 10-year contract — and that’s exactly what they’re doing," Flores said. "This is a legal issue."

Winner said Gradisar was using the council as a platform for his agenda.

"I think it’s wrong," she said.

Atencio said the resolution was asking the council to make a decision that a district court should be making.

Schilling questioned what difference passing such a resolution would make, saying Pueblo CARES would just continue to hold off on revealing its donors without a legal order.

Kogovsek said the council inaction sets a precedent.

"Next time there’s a council member running for office, they will form two committees," Kogovsek said. "The first committee will be ’Jon Doe is a Good Guy,’ and then he’ll take a lot of money and he won’t disclose a dime. Then, that committee will transfer all that money to the Jon Doe Campaign Committee and the voters are left in the dark."

Steve Welchert, a spokesperson for Pueblo CARES, and Julie Rodriguez, a spokesperson for Black Hills Energy, have both said Black Hills has contributed to the committee, though it’s unclear how much money has been contributed.

Welchert also said the Pueblo CARES issue committee has launched a new campaign called NO2A that would deal with marketing, including a new television ad called "Blank Check."

Flores and Winner are co-chairs for that campaign, along with former District Attorney Gus Sandstrom, Welchert said.

rseverance@chieftain.com

Twitter: @RyanSevvy