The conservative, tax-hating political operation called Americans for Prosperity has done the unexpected: lauded two Democrats in the Colorado statehouse, Rep. Brittany Pettersen of Lakewood and Sen. Angela Williams of Denver.

The two will be thanked in an upcoming ad campaign, along with two Republicans, Sens. Owen Hill of Colorado Springs and Rep. Lang Sias of Arvada, for sponsoring of House Bill 1375, which divides up public school funding equitably, funding charter schools the same as any other public school.

Americans for Prosperity is the political arm of the conservative donor network led by billionaire businessmen Charles and David Koch, public enemies number one and two of the political left. Pettersen is a candidate for Congressional District 7, and her soon-to-be husband, Ian Silverii, leads ProgressNow Colorado, the state’s largest liberal advocacy organization.

Williams, a former state representative, is a young rising star in her party who is expected to be a candidate for higher office.

AFP announced last week it’s launching a six-figure ad campaign and website to promote school choice in Colorado. Funding charter schools better is seen as a stepping stone toward vouchers or other concessions toward private and faith-oriented schools.

AFP’s new state director, Jesse Mallory, who until last month was chief of staff for the Senate Republicans, made the case that AFP is “nonpartisan” with the announcement. Of course, political organizations on both sides say that for tax reasons, saying they back issues, not candidates, but you can bet candidates jump when AFP opens its wallet.

The close ties between AFP and the Colorado Senate Republicans is an inside joke at the Capitol. Former Senate President Bill Cadman famously said in a statehouse speech in 2016 that he owed his position to AFP, and the Senate GOP’s spokesman, Sean Paige, was AFP’s deputy state director until 2014.

“As a nonpartisan organization, we are pleased to work across the aisle to promote freedom for all Coloradans,” Mallory said in a statement. “Today we would like to recognize and thank a number of state legislators for their courage to stand up for taxpayers and promote equalized funding for all public schools.”

Everyone else getting an attaboy from Americans for Prosperity is a Republican: Sens. Tim Neville of Littleton, Jack Tate of Centennial, Beth Martinez-Humenik of Thornton, Chris Holbert of Parker, along with House Minority Leader Patrick Neville of Castle Rock.

Sen. Neville, the representative’s father, also is getting the conservative group’s love for sponsoring Senate Bill 62 to assure free speech on college campuses in Colorado.

Unlike the school equity bill, Americans for Prosperity didn’t congratulate the House sponsors, Republican Stephen Humphrey of Severance and Democrat Jeff Bridges of Greenwood Village.

Rep. Bridges is the son of Rutt Bridges, one of the four millionaires who invested in the political infrastructure for the so-called blueprint that brought Democrats back to equal or better footing in Colorado elections.

AFP is new to embracing Democrats, so baby steps, baby steps.

Editor’s Note: This blog was corrected, because I called the organization “AFL,” not AFP, in one spot. To be clear, Jesse Mallory is not executive director of the Australian Football League, that I know of, but Colorado Politics is sure he’s not the leader of the AFL-CIO.