501(c)4 chair arranged unauthorized anti-Coffman attack piece

The chairman of the 501(c)4 group Protect Colorado Jobs sent out an unauthorized mailer this week to 50,000 CO-6 Republican voters using the group's name to attack Republican candidate Mike Coffman.

Two supporters of Coffman primary opponent Wil Armstrong gave $15,000 to the chairman, political consultant Curt Cerveny, to produce the piece, according to a source knowledgable about the situation. The source did not provide the names of the two donors.

Cerveny then produced the mailer and sent it out without knowledge of the Protect Colorado Jobs' contributors and most of its officers, the Denver Post reported.

"Curt had failed to run this by myself and the contributors to Protect Colorado Jobs," John Berry, the registered agent and secretary-treasurer for Protect Colorado Jobs, told the Post. "It was really a surprise to us, and it was outside what Protect Colorado Jobs was set up to do."

In a statement, Protect Colorado Jobs apologized to Coffman for the mailer and said Cerveny had resigned from the group.

Protect Colorado Jobs is a key proponent of Amendment 47, the right-to-work ballot initiative, the Post stated.

Reached by phone Thursday, Cerveny told PolitickerCO, "I don't have any comment on any of this."

Phone calls to Berry seeking comment Thursday were not returned. Andrew Zuppa, a member of the Protect Colorado Jobs, was reached by phone, but the connection was lost after a reporter asked him about the incident.

Coffman manager Dustin Zvonek said he suspected Zuppa and other group officers knew the identity of the two funders of the attack piece.

Armstrong manager Jack Stansbery said the Armstrong campaign "had nothing to do with" the mailer.

"We have no idea who paid for it," Stansbery said.

Earlier this year, Cerveny allegedly told several people that he planned to "destroy" Coffman by working through surrogates to attack the Colorado Secretary of State.

The mailer, sent out starting Tuesday, states that Coffman "has a record of bloated budgets and flawed policy decisions that have lead (sic) to a bigger and less efficient government."

Among the mailer's claims was that, as treasurer, Coffman "increased his office's budget by a whopping 33 percent." But as the Rocky Mountain News pointed out Thursday, the treasurer's budget is set only by the state legislature.  

The piece is no longer being sent out, a knowledgable source told PolitickerCO.

The mailer evoked a quick denunciation from U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Littleton) -- a somewhat surprising move, as Tancredo has largely stayed out of the CO-6 GOP race until this point.

In the statement, Tancredo said he "will speak out against what I consider to be underhanded attacks on any candidate by individuals hiding behind the shield of an organization from which, they hope to obtain ‘cover.'"

"It is my hope that, as we enter into final stage of the campaign that these types of attacks will cease and that issues will replace personalities as the dominant theme of the debate," Tancredo said in the statement. "If any candidate is found to be responsible for mailings or ‘push polls' that try to hide the source of the activity I hope the voters of the 6th District will reject not only the message but the messenger."

Asked what Tancredo meant when he referred to a candidate being "responsible for mailings or ‘push polls,'" spokesperson T. Q. Houlton said he was prohibited by law from commenting on political matters and referred a reporter to Zvonek.

Anti-Coffman mailer, side 1

Anti-Coffman mailer, side 2