Lakewood’s municipal election is awash in developer and marijuana money — two issues that voters in Colorado’s fifth-largest city have already taken positions on at the ballot box.
That has some wondering if it’s an attempt to pack the Lakewood City Council with members favorable to the cannabis industry and more robust development in this city of 155,000 on Denver’s western edge.
In 2014, voters rejected a measure that would have legalized recreational pot sales in the city. And this past summer, voters approved a limit on new residential construction in Lakewood.
“What concerns me is there are efforts to circumvent the will of the people,” said Anita Springsteen, an 11-year resident of Lakewood who helped spearhead slow-growth measure Question 200, which became law in July.
She is running for a council seat in Ward 3 in the Nov. 5 election. In addition, four other council positions and the mayor’s seat are up for grabs in Lakewood.
Two independent expenditure committees, which are not permitted to coordinate with candidates, collected $72,139 over a three-day period this month from nearly a dozen marijuana companies and developer interests, including the Apartment Association of Metro Denver and Ascend Cannabis.
RELATED: Denver Post voter guide
That money has produced a swirl of attack ads on the internet and in print against Ramey Johnson, a councilwoman running for mayor, and in favor of her opponent, Mayor Adam Paul.
Paul opposed Question 200, which voters passed 53% to 47% despite massive spending against it. This time around, the spending by pro-growth and pro-cannabis forces isn’t focusing on either of those issues but rather on the environment — at least on paper.
An online ad targeting Johnson claims that she opposed the purchase of open space in Lakewood and shared an article with council colleagues that questioned the human impact on climate change. She later expressed regret for sharing the story.
Lynea Hansen, the registered agent for both Protect Lakewood and Vote Lakewood — the independent expenditure committees with the hefty war chest — said Johnson is a target because she “has shown time and time again that she is a climate denier and that she doesn’t support protecting open space in Lakewood.”
When pressed on why cannabis companies would have a particular interest in those issues as opposed to getting a toehold in what could be Colorado’s fifth-largest recreational marijuana market, Hansen responded: “I don’t know many people who aren’t concerned about climate change.”
Lakewood permits medical marijuana sales but not recreational sales.
Peter Marcus, a spokesman for Terrapin Care Station, said his business gave $5,000 to Protect Lakewood partly based on climate change concerns. But he admitted another motive.
“If one day Lakewood decides that it wants adult-use cannabis sales in its city, then we want to ensure that the city’s leadership won’t block the will of the people,” Marcus said. “… It’s no secret that Ramey Johnson has been opposed to cannabis reform.”
Andrew Hamrick, general counsel for the Apartment Association of Metro Denver, said his association gave $9,000 to Protect Lakewood for a simple reason.
“Affordability of housing is a major problem for the metro area,” Hamrick said. “We’re looking to support candidates that don’t support growth limits.”
The nasty tone of the campaign fueled by outside money, Johnson said, is driving a wedge in the city’s electorate.
“I think it has added to the divisiveness in our community,” she said. “It poisons the well.”
Not that the negativity in Lakewood has been exclusively aimed at Johnson. A less well-funded independent expenditure committee, called Save Our Lakewood, has produced flyers against the mayor headlined “Who is the mayor working for?” — accusing him of being too cozy with developers.
Paul has also been the subject of unflattering articles in a local newspaper called the Lakewood Watchdog. On Friday, a lengthy complaint was filed with the city clerk accusing the newspaper of engaging in electioneering that exceeds protections it may enjoy as a media outlet.
The Denver Post reached out to Watchdog editor Dan Smith and received an anonymous email response that read “our whistleblowers, writers and donors are Lakewood residents.”
Big money in local Colorado politics is not new. Two years ago, a pro-oil and gas group gave more than $300,000 to local campaign committees in north suburban communities to help get business-friendly candidates elected. Last week, the Aurora Sentinel reported that a dark-money group is spending $400,000 on direct mail to help five Aurora City Council candidates.
“Groups backing singular issues continue to be significant players in high-profile campaigns,” Colorado Municipal League Executive Director Kevin Bommer said.
“Money from groups supporting cannabis legalization, oil and gas (for and against), growth and anti-growth – to name a few – seem to be an increasing part of local campaigns, even though they promote issues or candidates independently,” he said. “It does not appear this campaign cycle will be immune from it all.”
Paul said he wishes more limitations were placed on money in politics but that he and other candidates have no control over third-party input in the campaign.
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“Despite all the noise coming from every direction this election, I know that folks in Lakewood are committed to making our city a wonderful place to live,” he said. “I stand with them, not the anonymous donors trying to sway this election one way or the other.”
That also goes for Henry Hollender, a longtime member of Lakewood’s planning commission, who is running against Springsteen for Ward 3 council seat.
He is one of four candidates for whom an independent expenditure committee was created this month. Committees were also formed to back the candidacies of Paul, Councilwoman Dana Gutwein, and Ward 1 challenger Kyra deGruy.
No campaign contributions have been reported yet for those committees and Hansen told The Post her committees are not coordinating with the ones backing individual candidates.
Hollender said he doesn’t know why someone formed a committee in his name. But he’s not happy about it.
“I can’t stand the impact of money on politics,” he said.
