Colorado Governor Co-Founded Dark Money Network That Later Spent $920,000 Supporting His Election—Then Protected It From Enforcement
Jared Polis helped create the funding infrastructure that would spend $920,000 supporting his gubernatorial campaign through independent expenditures, then appointed the co-founder of that same network to his transition team. The organizations that bankrolled independent spending on his behalf in 2018 are now under FBI investigation as part of the “Riot Inc.” probe examining material support for terrorism and tax fraud. Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold announced investigations into two of those groups three years ago. Her office has produced no findings, taken no enforcement action, and offered no explanation.
The circular system begins in 2004. Polis joined software entrepreneur Tim Gill, medical device heiress Pat Stryker, and investor Rutt Bridges to found the Colorado Democracy Alliance. The group’s architect, former college president Al Yates, designed a network of nonprofits to replace the Colorado Democratic Party after campaign finance reform limited candidate contributions to $400. By routing money through tax-exempt organizations instead of party committees, wealthy donors could spend millions on races while avoiding disclosure requirements. Democrats flipped both chambers of the state legislature in 2004 despite President George W. Bush winning Colorado by five points. National donors adopted the infrastructure as a template and exported it to other states through the Democracy Alliance, a network that recommended members invest in groups like the Sixteen Thirty Fund.
When Polis ran for governor in 2018, the infrastructure he helped build channeled $920,000 to Good Jobs Colorado, an independent expenditure committee supporting his campaign. The money came from the Sixteen Thirty Fund. Good Jobs Colorado spent the funds attacking Republican Walker Stapleton while Polis self-funded his campaign with $23 million of his own money. He won by seventeen points. Polis then appointed Joe Zimlich to his transition team. Zimlich co-founded the national Democracy Alliance, which had recommended its members invest in the Sixteen Thirty Fund.
Phil Weiser received $600,000 from the Sixteen Thirty Fund through Justice Colorado during his 2018 race for attorney general. Weiser campaigned on fighting dark money, promising to “call on any group spending money on my behalf to disclose their donors.” Complete Colorado reported Weiser never made that call. Justice Colorado raised $848,000 total supporting Weiser’s campaign. The donors behind more than half a million dollars remained hidden. Weiser won and is now running for governor.
John Hickenlooper’s 2020 Senate campaign drew $4 million from the Sixteen Thirty Fund through Rocky Mountain Values, which spent $5.7 million attacking Republican Cory Gardner. Hickenlooper raised $41 million total and won by nine points. Brittney Pettersen won her 2018 State Senate race as part of the “Fab Five” who flipped control of the chamber to Democrats. She benefited from $2.5 million the Sixteen Thirty Fund gave to Coloradans for Fairness, which supported Democratic Senate candidates. Pettersen now serves in Congress.
The Sixteen Thirty Fund distributed $10.8 million across Colorado’s 2018 elections through five ballot committees and five super PACs. Leading Colorado Forward received $1.25 million for Democratic Senate candidates. Our Colorado Values got $500,000 to support House Democrats. Coloradans Creating Opportunities received $250,000 in 2018 and another $75,000 in June 2020. The North Fund, a related organization, spent $7.2 million on Colorado ballot measures between 2019 and 2020, including $4.4 million for Proposition 118, the paid family leave initiative that passed in 2020. Tides Center contributed $400,000 to the campaign supporting Proposition 114, wolf reintroduction, which passed by 10,000 votes.
Jena Griswold ran for secretary of state in 2018 promising transparency. She told the Colorado Sun that federal courts ruled corruption concerns don’t apply to ballot initiatives. “I disagree,” she said. When conservative nonprofit Unite for Colorado spent $3.3 million on 2020 ballot measures without registering as an issue committee, an administrative law judge fined the group $40,000 and ordered donor disclosure within twelve months. Two complaints filed in December 2021 alleged the Sixteen Thirty Fund and North Fund violated the same requirements. The groups had spent $15.8 million combined, nearly five times what Unite for Colorado spent.
Griswold’s office announced January 6, 2022 that full investigations were warranted. Initial findings stated the complaints alleged “facts which, if proven, could support a finding that Respondent violated Colorado campaign finance laws.” Three years later, no public resolution has emerged. Her office has not disclosed whether investigations remain active, were dropped, or resulted in enforcement action. Griswold won re-election in 2022 with support from Open Democracy PAC, which received $4 million from the Sixteen Thirty Fund. Another group, Democrat Defenders Fund, spent $1 million opposing her Republican opponent.
The enforcement gap reached Colorado’s counties. Colorado Open Democracy, funded through the Sixteen Thirty pipeline, spent $780,000 backing Democratic county clerk candidates in 2022. El Paso County Clerk Chuck Broerman called the spending historically unprecedented. Every dollar went to Berlin Rosen, a New York City public relations firm. In Arapahoe County, Joan Lopez won re-election after first defeating Republican Matt Crane in 2018. Lopez had worked in the clerk’s office for twenty-one years before becoming the first Democrat ever elected Arapahoe County Clerk. In Boulder County, Molly Fitzpatrick won re-election after first winning in 2018. Before becoming clerk, Fitzpatrick served as organizing director at New Era Colorado, a progressive voter registration group. Democrats Stacey Nell and Candace Rivera won clerk seats in Summit and Pueblo counties.
Democratic clerks now control election administration in Boulder, Arapahoe, Denver, Jefferson, Adams, and Pueblo counties. These six counties cast 58 percent of Colorado’s votes in the 2022 general election. The infrastructure that began with Polis co-founding the Colorado Democracy Alliance in 2004 reached county clerk races eighteen years later through organizations now under federal investigation.
Attorney General Pam Bondi directed federal prosecutors in December to pursue “exhaustive investigation” of the Riot Inc networks. FBI Director Kash Patel launched a nationwide probe in January. House Oversight Chair James Comer opened a separate investigation in November. Multiple states have banned foreign funding after similar groups stopped spending when laws passed, but Colorado has not.
The organizations under federal investigation spent $34 million electing Colorado officials who control state and county enforcement. Polis benefited from $920,000 in independent expenditures, then appointed a Democracy Alliance co-founder to his transition team. Weiser took $600,000 while campaigning against dark money and is running for governor. Griswold promised transparency, benefited from $4 million in related spending, and has produced no findings on complaints she deemed worthy of investigation three years ago. Hickenlooper received $4 million and serves in the Senate. Pettersen got campaign support from $2.5 million in Sixteen Thirty funds and serves in Congress. Democratic county clerks in six of Colorado’s most populous counties run elections while the organizations that spent $780,000 supporting clerk candidates face federal investigation.
Documentary evidence of Colorado campaign finance violations exists in Secretary of State records, TRACER filings, and complaint documents filed in Griswold’s office. The state apparatus that could force donor disclosure and levy penalties is controlled by officials elected with money from the groups they were supposed to investigate. The circle closes around itself, protecting the organizations at its center from the accountability Colorado voters were promised but have not received.
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