4C funds Pro-Union campaign
From the Longmont Daily Times-Call.
4C funds pro-Union campaign
Church developer has spent $14,000
FIRESTONE — The only contributor to the pro-Union campaign is the Union developer: Corporation for Community Christian Connection, or 4C, the business organization of LifeBridge Christian Church.
Citizens for Firestone’s Future collected $14,152.87 in campaign contributions — and 4C donated all of it.
The campaign group has been urging Firestone voters in Tuesday’s election to allow the town to annex the church’s 350-acre planned Union development at Colo. Highway 119 and Weld County Road 3 1/2.
“I think (Union) is an incredibly important issue for this town, and when you put things into perspective of what’s at stake, I think it’s reasonable,” Tom Cooper of Citizens for Firestone’s Future said of the dollar amount.
InformFirestone, the group that landed the Union annexation on the special election ballot and has been campaigning against it, reported that it collected and spent $68.08.
The campaign finance reports were turned into the Firestone town clerk Friday.
Citizens for Firestone’s Future reported that it spent $3,800 to make phones calls to voters and another $3,631 to mail fliers to residents.
The group also spent about $1,780 on yard signs and $4,031 on campaign consultants. The rest went to Web site costs,
legal fees and a newspaper ad.
Martin Dickey, 4C chief operating officer, said the company gave the money to Citizens for Firestone’s Future because “it is certainly important that the truth be out there.”
Dickey said organizers started the campaign group because they have an obligation to inform voters, and 4C donated because it has a duty to be good stewards of Life-Bridge’s resources and rights.
“We unapologetically will defend our property rights against people who are misrepresenting the facts as it relates to our business or our property,” Dickey said.
According to state campaign finance laws, InformFirestone did not have to file a report because the group collected and spent less than $200, which is the reporting trigger point.
Dan Sanger of InformFirestone said the group chose to file a report to clear up any misconceptions about the group — and prevent any new misconceptions from forming.
“We filed because we’ve obviously had the charges of being well-funded and being outsiders,” he said. “We felt it was in the best interest of the people to know what are we funding.”
InformFirestone did not itemize their contributions or expenditures, but Sanger said the money came from volunteers buying reams of paper or Sanger picking up the cost of the Web site.
Sanger pointed out that 4C money is not Firestone money, and he described the pro-Union campaigning in recent weeks as a “blitz.”
“It’s in the developer’s interest to get the side of the story that looks the best out there,” Sanger said. “I’m not criticizing; they’re going to do what they need to do. But you can’t expect to see 100 percent truth or both sides of the issue in a campaign like that.”
Sanger added, “I think it really illustrates the David versus Goliath thing that is actually going on here.”
Cooper, who serves on the Firestone Planning Commission and started Citizens for Firestone’s Future, said he contacted 4C as soon as he found out Union was going to voters in a special election.
“I reached out to 4C, and I’m very glad there’s an organization willing to help get the information that is critical out to the people,” Cooper said.
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