Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper reportedly accepted millions of dollars in off-the-books donations from private foundations and corporations to fund positions in his office, according to an investigation from CBS4 in Denver.
CBS4 found that one of Hickenlooper’s biggest donors was the former company Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, which in one instance contributed $25,000 to the governor’s office only a few days before a pipeline the company owned was connected to a home explosion in Firestone that killed two people. The company gave the governor’s office approximately $330,000 over four years.
“We tried to be as transparent as we could be, we issued press releases,” Hickenlooper said.
But according to CBS4, the only public accounting of Anadarko’s donations came in flyers for various programs that listed the company as one sponsor among many, and on the Transparency Online Project, which CBS4 notes involved “a time-consuming, multi-step search,” to confirm the donations, which were found “under a tab titled ‘Combining Special Revenue’ along with money from other private companies and foundations.”
Hickenlooper said he could not recall ever soliciting money from these organizations, including approaching them directly.
“I can’t think of anything offhand,” he said, adding that he “would sometimes speak to the chamber of commerce” and “the Colorado Association of Nonprofits.”
CBS4 does note that it “found no evidence of a quid pro quo,” but said some groups confirmed that “they paid for policy positions in the office that aligned with their agenda.”
Frank LoMonte, the Director of the Brechner Center for the Freedom of Information, told CBS4 that he has never encountered a governor’s office accepting direct donations with no oversight.
“Big dollar presents like that are the exact kind of things that ethics laws seek to prohibit and regulate,” he said.
“Even if it’s well-intentioned and there is no influence buying going on, it just raises all sorts of red flags that it could influence the direction of policy and it could influence what legislation is prioritized, it could give, at least if not influence, it could give preferred access to the governor,” LoMonte said.
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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