Ka-Ching! For Campaign Funds

While many legislative campaign funds are shrinking due to working costs and lodging fees, the same can’t be said for Rep. David Balmer and Sen. Brandon Shaffer.

Rep. Balmer, a Republican from Centennial, collected $3,330 last month, with some of the money coming from oil tycoon Bruce Benson.

Sen. Brandon Shaffer, a Democrat from Longmont, received $4,225 in contributions during the same time period. Benson and his wife gave a total of $800 to Balmer. It also appears to be the most recent state-wide contribution that Benson has made since September of last year. A total of twelve people donated to the campaign fund.

Added to the pot were donations from Bret Batchelder, a managing director at Cherokee Investments where Balmer works, and William Armstrong, a former lawmaker and president of Colorado Christian University.

Sen. Shaffer also received notable contributions. Colorado Springs Sen. John Morse gave $100 and Tom Mayer, a Boulder County Commissioner, made a donation of $36. Approximately 40 people gave to the campaign fund, with the majority of them listing their status as retired. 

For comparison, Rep. Buffie McFadyen reported a negative balance totaling over a thousand dollars, after spending money on travel and lodging costs.

House Minority Leader Mike May also reported spending a nearly $5,000 for meals and lodging costs, bringing his beginning balance down by approximately $4700.

Erin Rosa was born in Spain and raised in Colorado Springs. She is a freelance writer currently living in Denver. Rosa's work has been featured in a variety of news outlets including the Huffington Post, Democracy Now!, and the Rocky Mountain Chronicle, an alternative-weekly in Northern Colorado where she worked as a columnist covering the state legislature. Rosa has received awards from the Society of Professional Journalists for her reporting on lobbying and woman's health issues. She was also tapped with a rare honorable mention award by the Newspaper Guild-CWA's David S. Barr Award in 2008--only the second such honor conferred in its nine-year history--for her investigative series covering the federal government's Supermax prison in the state. Rosa covers the labor community, corrections, immigration and government transparency matters. She can be reached at erosa@www.coloradoindependent.com.

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