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Tax returns enter gubernatorial race

Colo. candidates release filings; Bob Beauprez wants to see more

DENVER – It wouldn’t be election season without the perennial call for tax returns.

In the case of the gubernatorial contest, both Republican challenger Bob Beauprez and Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper have released most of their filings to The Durango Herald.

The first shot was fired Tuesday by well-known progressive Michael Huttner and his organization, Making Colorado Great. Huttner called on Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez to release his tax documents.

“We call on Bob Beauprez to immediately disclose his tax returns since his last run for office,” said Huttner, spokesman for Making Colorado Great.

The organization pointed to Beauprez’s last run for governor in 2006, when during the primary his campaign called on primary opponent, Marc Holtzman, to release his tax documents.

“This is about coming clean with the voters,” Beauprez campaign spokesman John Marshall told the Rocky Mountain News in 2006. “Before voters give our next governor the state’s $15 billion checkbook, it’s reasonable to expect candidates to assure the public that their own finances are in order.”

“We want to ensure that Beauprez is not hiding anything,” Huttner said. “We are simply asking of Beauprez what he demanded of his opponents when he ran last time.”

Just as Huttner was calling on Beauprez to release his tax filings since the last campaign, the Beauprez campaign was busy readying the documents.

The campaign released all but the most recent return because Beauprez is filing an extension and the documents were not yet ready. The Herald has obtained returns from 2006-2012.

The Beauprez camp quickly turned the debate back on Democrats, calling on Hickenlooper to disclose his charitable giving.

The Herald had not, as of press time, obtained Beauprez’s charitable giving, but the campaign said it will disclose donations from 2007-2013 when a list is ready.

“It’s vital that voters know their next governor doesn’t have anything to hide,” Beauprez said. “Any candidate in this race who’s unwilling to disclose their charitable contributions obviously has something to hide.”

The campaign alleged questionable contributions on the part of the governor. They point to the 2010 campaign for governor, when Hickenlooper was repeatedly pressured to release his contributions.

At issue was the Chinook Fund, a Denver-based organization that works on issues of racial, social and economic justice.

Beauprez’s campaign has come down hard on the organization, suggesting that it is a “vehicle for contributions to small, extremely liberal organizations.”

When asked by the Herald on Thursday, the Hickenlooper campaign declined to release the governor’s charitable giving.

“It’s a very personal decision for the governor, and he doesn’t want to bring these charities into the heat of the political campaign,” said Brad Komar, Hickenlooper’s campaign manager.

Instead, the campaign pointed to the governor’s commitment to donating net salary he receives as governor to charitable organizations, some of which date back to when he was mayor of Denver.

Hickenlooper has a long history of giving, even before he was a public servant. In 1986, when Hickenlooper was laid off as a geologist, he still donated $9,243, according to his tax return for that year. In 1987, when the governor was unemployed and claimed an income of only $15,491, he still contributed $2,940.

Hickenlooper has released 27 years worth of tax records. When he ran for office in 2010, he released 23 years worth of taxes, through 2008. On Thursday, Hickenlooper released to the Herald the past four years of his tax records. The most recent filing was not available because Hickenlooper filed for an extension.

The campaign says it is the largest amount of tax records that any candidate or elected official in Colorado has ever released.

Eddie Stern, a spokesman for the campaign, said the returns demonstrate the economic adversity Hickenlooper overcame after being laid off and going on to found the Wynkoop Brewing Co. in Denver.

“The governor has now released more tax records than any elected official or candidate in Colorado’s history,” Stern said. “He knows that while this puts his economic successes and hard times in the spotlight, it is an important thing to do. This should be the standard for those who are running for governor.”

pmarcus@durangoherald.com



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