Colorado’s total election season expenditures reached $159.27 million as of Nov. 8 according to Secretary of State reports from candidates and various campaign committees. That amount covers candidates and ballot initiatives. It’s instructive to know who collected the money and who spent it.

Coloradans should thank Wine in Grocery Stores for its transparent PAC committee name. It’s easy to know what its goal is, as opposed to All Together Colorado ($10 million to support Democratic state Senate candidates) or Defend Colorado ($1.28 million to support honest, professional, non-biased candidates).

Wine in Grocery Stores received $13.09 million in contributions and spent $12.42 million on its propositions to sell wine in stores and deliver booze to your home. Contributors included eager corporate entities such as Whole Foods, Kroger, DoorDash, Instacart, Walmart, Albertsons, 7-Eleven and Target.

Where did all that money go? More than $11 million went to Colorado Media and Mail, a company with Secretary of State records going back to 1996. Clearly, this year the enterprise hit the big time. It had a supporting team of former state Rep. Joe Miklosi’s Bridge Consulting, a lobbying and government relations firm, at $15,000, and the MIDG Group, an enterprise specializing in issue campaigns, at $76,825. It takes a village to get initiatives across finish lines.

Take a guess at what Coloradans for Consumer Fairness and Retail Choice stands for. Did you go with liquor store expansions? Coloradans for Consumer Fairness and Retail Choice is the name of the PAC supported mostly by liquor store owners David and Robert Trone from Bethesda, Maryland under the contributor name of Colorado Fine Wines and Spirits. Mary Wittemeyer’s company, BlueWest Media, handled $7,847,525 of the proposition’s media buy. She’s a well-known Democratic political and media consultant.

The liquor store-expansion people knew to spread the wealth, so they also hired Ascent Media, former GOP state Senator Josh Penry’s media company, at $417,000. Penry’s political consulting enterprise, 76 Group, took an additional $12,500 to guide the proposition.

The three liquor propositions ran the liquor sales and distribution industries about $25 million.

Moving on, BlueWest Media also took in $1.65 million from Coloradans for Affordable Housing Now. Gary Ventures, LLC., run by former state Sen. Michael Johnston, chipped in $2.05 million to the campaign. Gary Ventures is the investment arm of Gary Community Ventures, formerly the Piton Foundation. Sam Gary made his fortune as an oil and gas driller and then in real estate as a primary developer of Stapleton Airport land into what is now Central Park. Affordable housing supports Gary’s interests.

BlueWest Media had a hand in numerous state office campaigns. Phil Weiser, incumbent candidate for Attorney General, tossed $2.25 million to BlueWest, Secretary of State Jena Griswold added $1.35 million and state Treasurer Dave Young pitched more than $215,000. Topping off the cash was $972,230 from the Better Colorado Alliance. Can you guess who that committee supported? The answer is Democratic state House candidates!

From Secretary of State reports, it appears that BlueWest Media cornered a total of $16,83 million in this campaign season. This number compares favorably to Penry’s political media and consulting companies’ revenues. Ascent took in $1.31 million and 76 Group brought in $1.22 million from committees descriptively titled Better Jobs Coalition, Accountability Colorado, and RSLC PAC, among others.

Strong Colorado for All made a strong impression with its collection of $9.13 million. What or who does this committee support? It supports Democratic candidates. It collected big dollars from the Democratic Governors Association at $2.8 million, Education Reform Now Advocacy at $350,000, Michael Bloomberg at $2 million, and the east coast Sixteen-Thirty Fund at $1 million. Great American Media received $6.43 million from the Strong committee and Colorado Information Network, another PAC, received $1.43 million, most of which it forwarded along to Great American Media.

In addition to the ample support incumbent Gov. Jared Polis received from the Democratic Governors Association, he collected $12.74 million for his campaign with about $12 million coming from himself. He chose Canal Partners Media as his principal media delivery advertising firm. Guess who is Canal Partners Media’s biggest client? President Joe Biden, that’s who.

Paula Noonan owns Colorado Capitol Watch, the state’s premier legislature tracking platform.