It’s like something out of a Hollywood movie: a mysterious envelope, stuffed with money, shows up in the most unlikely of places.

But it’s not a movie – it actually occurred on Thursday in the Colorado state Capitol. 

A House staffer went into the men’s public bathroom at the north end of the Capitol basement and found an envelope some time overnight.

Inside were checks, made out to the Senate Majority Fund, the independent expenditure committee that helps to finance Republican campaigns for the state Senate. How many checks were in the envelope and how much total are not known, although a source mentioned they’re in the five figures.

Between its discovery and mid-morning Thursday, that envelope made its way into the state Senate and is now in the hands of Senate staff. 

Where it goes from there has not yet been determined.

However, state Sen. Paul Lundeen of Monument, who is in charge of the majority fund, told Colorado Politics he won’t accept those checks, given that they were left “on site.”

“It’s a best practice in my opinion” not to accept contributions within the Capitol, Lundeen said. 

Independent expenditure committees, under state law, are allowed to accept unlimited contributions but forbidden from coordinating with candidates. 

According to TRACER, the Secretary of State’s campaign finance database, the Senate Majority Fund IEC has taken in $3.67 million since 2014, all from its 527 political committee, also known as the Senate Majority Fund. The 527 committee has taken in $15.7 million since 2003, with the largest contribution in history coming from the Williams Companies, an oil company, which gave $250,000 in 2018.*

That, however, pales in comparison to record contributions to left-leaning independent expenditure groups. The Sixteen Thirty Fund gave Leading Colorado Forward, the group working to elect Senate Democrats, a state record $1.25 million in October 2020.

Editors note: due to a filing error reported to TRACER by the Senate Majority Fund, a previous version incorrectly said another donor had given the fund $550,000 contribution. The actual contribution was $55,000.