A political nonprofit that aided in Gov. Jared Polis’s transition as Colorado’s chief executive shortly after his 2018 election has admitted to violating Colorado’s campaign finance laws and is on the hook for thousands of dollars in fines. 

Boldly Forward Colorado, which helped in the recruitment and selection of Polis’ administration team, faced roughly $54,000 in fines for spending money on the Democrat-backed ballot measure called Proposition HH but not registering as a committee and failing to report its electioneering activities.

The group’s cooperation, however, reduced that amount by roughly a third of the total.  

As part of a settlement with the Elections Division of the Colorado Secretary of State, the 501(c)(4) nonprofit corporation acknowledged its failure to comply with Colorado’s campaign finance laws. The group also admitted to not registering as an issue committee and not reporting its contributions and expenditures in the 2023 election cycle.

The terms of that settlement, signed by Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Beall on Friday, require Boldly Forward to pay the fines and to disclose its contributors in accordance with the state’s Fair Campaign Practices Act.

Between June and October 2023, the Democrat-backed group made five contributions to Property Tax Relief Now totaling $391,875 in support of Proposition HH, which was rejected by voters in November 2023.

The proposition sought to lower property tax rates, allow the state to retain and spend money that would otherwise be given to citizens under the Colorado Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR), raise the ceiling on state revenue, and allocate revenue to local governments to offset the decrease in property tax revenue, among other provisions.

Under Colorado campaign finance rules, a group faces a fine of at least $300, plus at least 10% of the expenditures made if the spending exceeds $5,000, for failing to register as a an issue or ballot measure committee.

Boldly Forward Colorado faced a fine of $35,487 for this violation.

Additionally, failing to report contributions and expenditures carries a fine of $100 per missed report, plus 5% of the unreported activity.

For that violation, the group faced a fine of $18,793.

But because the group cooperated with the state investigation, Colorado’s election office reduced the penalty to $17,593.76.

Skeptics began asking questions about Boldly Forward Colorado as far back as 2020, when local news stories began noting the group had shifted its focus from finding staff members for Polis to expanding early childhood education, addressing rising healthcare costs and “fiscal reform,” as first reported by the Colorado Sun.

Boldly Forward Colorado has 14 days to pay the fine.