HICKENLOOPER’S VETO MAY BENEFIT UNEXPECTED FUNDRAISERS
“Gov. John Hickenlooper has made much of his support from Republican businessmen, but did some of that support come at a price? The Governor issued only a handful of vetoes during this legislative session, but one of those was HB14-1375, a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) reform bill strongly opposed by developers who have also been significant TIF beneficiaries.
Two of those developers, brothers Chad and Troy McWhinney, have been longtime supporters of Republican office-seekers. However, they held a fundraiser for Hickenlooper in Windsor the week that the bill was introduced into the legislature. The suggested contribution for that fundraiser was $1,100, the maximum allowed under state law.
Questions are raised by virtue of the governor’s own recent words. He has acknowledged that he refused to take a position on the Keystone XL pipeline in order to avoid offending “a lot of people in Washington.” He was caught on video saying that large donors had called his senior staff to complain about a bill that would have raised the pay of public officials. He also erroneously denied having spoken to former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg during the gun control debates, a claim later disproven by his phone records.”
Sharf, Joshua. Watchdog Wire 11 August 2014.