October 09, 2008 09:17 AM UTC

Jake Jabs, the New Face of Amendment 47

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• by: Precinct854

( – promoted by Colorado Pols)

I was very surprised on Tuesday when I saw the first ad by local furniture mogul Jake Jabs. My first thought was, “Well jeeze, I’m glad I never bought anything there.”  My second was to wonder if this was an independent effort or some idiosyncratic choice by the backers of the anti-union amendment.

Wonder no more.  The Rocky Mountain News reports that besides the two official proponents of the measure, business labor Julian Jay Cole and Aurora City Councilman Ryan Frazier, meetings about it included State Sen. Ted Harvey (R-Highlands Ranch) and American Furniture Warehouse executive Andrew Zuppa.  The money is indeed coming from Jonathan Coors/Coorstek, but Jake Jabs is the other major player.

I’m not sure if this helps or hurts Jake Jabs’ business. I know I was unlikely to shop there before so turning off people like me who don’t like particle board furniture is no loss for him. According to the the Denver Business Journal reporting on the press confrence held on Tuesday Jabs said he’s not afraid of a boycott. Though he called it because of the huge number of calls he got.

But does it help the amendment? How positive a view do people have of Jake Jabs? And how could he not know that putting his well known mug on the ads would result in calls to the business that he’s intimately associated with?

And is it just him, or will Dealing Doug be out with ads next?

Edited: ColoraodPols user Aristotle said in comments he remembered Jake Jabs trying for the Republican nomination for Senate in 1990 or 1988. This Chuck Green column from 2001 doesn’t give specifics, but it agrees that Jake Jabs was putting out his name until it was discovered he was not registered to vote. And then temporarily pulled advertising from the Post in retaliation for reporting on the fact. One of many times he’s tried to strong arm the local media over unfavorable stories about him.

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