DENVER—The two Republican candidates in Colorado’s governor’s race have seen contributions drop following scandals in which one candidate was accused of plagiarism and the other of campaign finance violations.
Contributions for former congressman Scott McInnis fell by more than half, from $69,000 during the first two weeks of July to $34,000 the second two weeks after McInnis was accused of plagiarizing a water report for which he was paid $300,000.
Donations to Dan Maes fell from $22,000 to $18,000 for the same period after Maes paid a $17,500 fine for campaign finance violations that included $44,000 in undocumented mileage reimbursements, claiming he traveled 90,000 miles on his campaign tours.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate John Hickenlooper, who does not have a primary opponent, saw his contributions jump from $114,000 to $291,000.
Both GOP candidates tried to put a positive spin on the reports. Maes compared the contributions, not the dollar amounts of said contributions, noting the number of donations went from 139 in the first half of the month to 289 in the second half. McInnis’ spokesman, Sean Duffy, said fundraising is improving.
“After a very challenging several weeks, which intensified in the midst of this two-week period, Scott was very pleased and gratified that fundraising rebounded toward the end of this period,” Duffy said.
Political consultant Floyd Ciruli said donations dropping off near the end of the campaign are a bad sign for both candidates and their donors.
“They’re begging for change, but they’re not going to waste money and it will go to whoever they think is the viable candidate,” Ciruli said.
Last week, former Republican congressman Tom Tancredo left the GOP to become the American Constitution Party candidate for governor, saying both Republican candidates remaining in the primary hurt their party and don’t have a chance of beating Democrat John Hickenlooper in the general election.
Tancredo, who filed his application to be a candidate on July 27, reported contributions of $410 for the one-day filing period. The primary is on Aug. 10.
