August 07, 2014 02:14 PM UTC

Cynthia Coffman Owes the Koch Brothers...Big Time

• 2 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

Fundraising reports for the month of July are now available through the Colorado Secretary of State's website. Before we do our regular comparison of fundraising efforts for state candidates, it's worth highlighting how at least one Colorado candidate will have no hope of winning in November without the infamous Koch Brothers.

As we wrote before in this space, there is an ongoing rift among Republicans over money reportedly directed by the Republican Governor's Association (RGA) through the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA) in order to harm GOP Gubernatorial candidate Tom Tancredo. To help you catch up on the story, here's the gist of what we wrote last week:

According to Republican sources close to the issue, the fallout from the RGA/RAGA scandal could prove disastrous for the campaign of GOP Attorney General nominee Cynthia Coffman. From what we hear, Coffman was counting heavily on massive financial support from RAGA in her bid to defeat Democrat Don Quick this fall, but the cross-pollination of RGA and RAGA finances has many Republican donors balking at writing checks to RAGA on Coffman's behalf…

…Coffman had been counting on RAGA to pick up the financial slack in her campaign, where she has lagged behind Quick and the Democrats. Prior to today (Aug. 1 is the deadline for the most recent fundraising period), Quick had about $232,000 in the bank compared to less than $70,000 cash-on-hand for Coffman; with relatively small contribution limits for Attorney General, Coffman was always going to have a hard time matching resources with Quick without the help of RAGA.

As Colorado Pols has pointed out before, Cynthia Coffman is not exactly a fundraising powerhouse. Take a look at how Coffman and Democrat Don Quick compare through July:

*Note the big asterisk her: Quick's campaign spent $150,000 in July to reserve time for TV advertising. Even after such a hefty expenditure, Quick's campaign still has more money in the bank than does Coffman.

Fortunately for Coffman, some rich friends are writing big checks on her behalf. From Think Progress:

The campaign for the usually little-noticed position of Colorado Attorney General has been jolted with a stunning influx of outside money — a total one candidate says is more than quadruple the largest amount ever spent by a candidate for the position.

The Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA) has reportedly reserved a historic $2.6 million television ad buy in support of Colorado Republican attorney general nominee Cynthia Coffman. The group has received significant funding from the fossil fuel industry — and dark money groups backed by petrochemical billionaires Charles and David Koch. Probably not coincidentally, Coffman is a staunch supporter of the oil and gas industry who has vowed to use the position to protect the rights of frackers and drillers…

…Of these contributions, at least $868,400 came from Koch Industries, the American Petroleum Institute, the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, and other energy sector companies and trade associations, a ThinkProgress analysis of IRS data revealed. This accounted for more than 11 percent of RAGA’s funding, as of June 30. Another $1,204,700 came from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which receives a large amount of its funding from energy companies and Koch-backed entities. The Kochs have also supported conservative political organization that contributed to RARA, including the American Future Fund ($670,000) and the Republican Governors Association ($175,000).

If Coffman ends up being elected as Colorado's next Attorney General, she — perhaps more than any other Colorado candidate — will be virtually exclusively indebted to the Koch Brothers.