July 19, 2010 10:56 PM UTC

Good Money After Bad, Hasan Foundation Edition

• 11 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

Attention this past week has rightly focused on GOP gubernatorial candidate Scott McInnis’ plagiarism in a series of essays on water policy in Colorado–not as much on the alleged victims of said plagiarism, the Hasan Family Foundation, a charity operated by the Hasan family of major Republican donors. The Hasans responded quickly with anger over the allegations of plagiarism, demanded repayment in full of the monies paid to McInnis, and have never once tried to defend McInnis from the allegations. That’s all to their credit.

Some questions are beginning to emerge, though, such as why the Hasan Foundation developed a sudden interest in water policy when that’s not the stated mission of the organization. There are obvious questions about how rigorously the organization followed up on McInnis’ deliverables, having paid $300,000 for essays from a prominent Republican that were never even published. The two questions combine to form a much bigger one: was this just a patronage gift? Might nervousness about possible IRS questions regarding their prodigious ‘charity’ for an ex-Republican congressman have supplemented their outrage?

And as Westword’s Alan Prendergast reports, there are other reasons to criticize what the Hasans do with their money–like serving as the biggest (known) donors to Amendments 60, 61 and Proposition 101, known together as the “Dr. Evil” initiatives.

Members of the Hasan family, the wealthy backers of Colorado GOP causes, whose award of a $300,000 fellowship to Scott McInnis erupted last week in a plagiarism scandal, are also the largest single donors to three tax-cutting initiatives on the November ballot.

The measures — Amendments 60 and 61 and Proposition 101 — have been charged with controversy, in part because of the unusual secrecy surrounding the financial backing of the joint campaign…

The latest campaign finance reports filed with the Colorado Secretary of State indicate that Muhammad Ali Hasan, former Westword cover dude, donated $5,000 to the 60-61-101 campaign shortly before announcing his departure from Colorado on his Facebook page (he’s headed back to the film business in LA). His mother, Seeme Hasan, made another $5,000 contribution to the campaign in May.

It’s almost funny, don’t you think? The Hasans just care so much about water policy, they are backing initiatives that would ensure Colorado can never finance a water project again! ‘Educating the public’ is good, so let’s write McInnis a $300,000 check for “educational” work he plagiarized, then fund initiatives that would eviscerate education funding! Makes perfect sense, doesn’t it?

Come to think of it, the Hasans backing Doug Bruce’s “Dr. Evil” initiatives does have a simple, easy-to-understand relationship to McInnis’ plagiarism. Very bad judgment.