Probably not the most surprising news you’ll hear today: Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper’s lieutenant governor nominee, Donna Lynne, has donated to his campaigns and the Democratic Party.
The National Institute on Money in State Politics released a report Monday that indicates 86 percent of the $50,099 Lynne and her co-workers at Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Kaiser Permanente Colorado gave from 2000 through 2015 supported Democrats.
Lynne gave $10,050, “almost all of it to Democrats. according to the institute.
Lynne, who moved to Colorado 11 years ago, has donated $4,175 to the Colorado Democratic Party and maxed out allowable contributions to Hickenlooper’s campaigns.
Lynne awaits confirmation from the state legislature. The last day of the legislative session in May 11. Hickenlooper to replace Joe Garcia, who is of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education.
Accountability is central to confirmation hearings and confirmation votes in our state capitols, said J T Stepleton, a researcher for the National Institute on Money in State Politics. In light of public skepticism of money in politics and questions about access to our elected officials, it s fair to bring this financial support to the attention Colorado lawmakers and their constituents during the confirmation phase.
Kaiser Permanente, as a company, has donated $395,000 to ballot-measure campaigns since 2004, according to the nonprofit that tracks money in politics.
About 28 percent of that went , the successful 2005 ballot measure that allowed the state to keep billions of dollars in excess of the Taxpayer s Bill of Rights revenue cap for five years. The money was to be spent on health care, public education, transportation projects and local fire and police pensions.
In 2010, Kaiser Permanente donated $25,000 to , a measure aimed at combating Obamacare s health insurance mandate. In 2013, Kaiser also gave $100,000 , which would have increased the state income tax to support education.
“As a nonprofit health plan, Kaiser Permanente does not contribute to political candidates, parties or partisan campaigns,” Kaiser said in a statement about the report. “We also do not direct, influence or encourage employees to make political contributions. If employees choose to support political candidates or campaigns, they do so on their own.
“Kaiser Permanente is one of the state s largest private employers. Occasionally, we do contribute to broad-based coalitions addressing ballot measures that support a healthy business environment in Colorado and align with our mission to provide high quality affordable health care to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve.”
Luis Toro, director of the nonprofit Colorado Ethics Watch. noted the lieutenant governor doesn t have a lot of authority.
It would never hurt to ask the (state) Ethics Commission how she should handle things involving her former employer, he said. Ethics laws usually focus on making sure someone doesn t use their public position to snag a lucrative private-sector job, not so much the other way around.
