Jul. 17—The Airport Neighborhood Campaign, a group of housing advocates that put forward two ballot initiatives for this fall to close Boulder's Municipal Airport and turn the area into housing, has filed a second election complaint against people who are campaigning to save the airport.
The group filed an initial complaint in late May accusing the Boulder Airport Association and the Boulder Aviation Association, both pro-airport groups, of working to oppose the Airport Neighborhood Campaign's ballot petitions without disclosing their expenditures or contributions or registering as official ballot measure committees.
Boulder City Clerk Elesha Johnson dismissed the complaint last month, noting that the Boulder Airport Association-Save Boulder Airport committee was formed after the city contacted the groups and notified them that they were required to set up an official ballot measure committee.
The latest complaint filed Monday raises a different set of allegations around transparency in the Save Boulder Airport committee's political ads. According to city code, ballot measure committees must clearly state which committee paid for these ads and who some of the major donors behind the ads are if there are donors with individual contributions of more than $1,000.
According to the complaint, the Boulder Airport Association bought sponsored Facebook ads that do not include this information. The complaint also alleges the Facebook ads mislead viewers by making the ads appear to come from the Boulder airport itself instead of the airport advocacy group.
Reached for comment, Laura Kaplan, a member of the city's Planning Board who is working on the Airport Neighborhood Campaign in her personal capacity, said although the initial complaint was dismissed, the campaign still believes it had a good outcome.
"We view our initial election complaint as successful. We filed our first complaint because a political group had formed to oppose our ballot measures and had not registered with the city nor disclosed their donations and campaign spending, as required by city code," she wrote in an email. "Now, as a result of our communications with the clerk and complaint, the Boulder Airport Association is registered as a ballot measure committee and has filed its first financial disclosure statement with the city. This was our goal."
Kaplan added that the goal of both complaints is to "promote transparency and compliance with election law."
The City Clerk's Office confirmed it has received the complaint and will begin investigating it shortly.
Matt Moseley, speaking on behalf of the Save Boulder Airport committee, wrote in an email that he could not comment as he had not seen the complaint as of Wednesday afternoon.
Originally Published: July 17, 2024 at 4:56 p.m.
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