Out-of-state dark money group kicks off effort to unseat Lauren Boebert; repeats several debunked claims

May 28, 2021 By Sherrie Peif

DENVER — A South Carolina dark money group has targeted 3^rd Congressional District Rep. Lauren Boebert for such things as refusing to wear a face mask in the House chamber and attending congressional zoom meetings in front of a wall of guns in her house.

The group “Hold Them Accountable” emailed voters in Boebert’s district recently in an attempt to raise money in hopes of unseating the freshman Republican in 2022.

In the email, the group claims Boebert was “live-tweeting (Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s) whereabouts as murderous insurrections breached the Capitol and threatened to kill her, among others,” despite that claim having been repeatedly debunked.

“She even posed for photos with those seditionists before heading into the Capitol for the Biden vote,” the email continues, a widely-circulated claim that has also been proven false.

According to Federal Election Commission reports, Hold Them Accountable first came on scene in 2020 and raised more than $5 million in 2020 to help its efforts. Although it spent more than $1 million in a failed opposition to the re-election of Senator Lyndsey Graham, who represents the home state of the organization in South Carolina, more than half its donations were spent on operating expenses.

The group ended the year with just more than $70,000 cash on hand.

The report shows the group has focused its efforts solely in South Carolina until now.  The Boebert effort (among others) appears to be the first time they have put a focus on other states.

In a May 19 Tweet, the group called Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson a domestic terrorist sympathizer.

Despite Secretary of State Jena Griswold and Attorney General Phil Weiser campaigning on promises to identify who donates to political campaigns, the use of out-of-state dark money to benefit progressive causes and Democrat candidates in Colorado, is not new.

A Washington D.C. based non-profit spent nearly $11 million on various candidates and issue campaigns in the 2018 Colorado election, including both Weiser ($600,000) and Gov. Jared Polis (900,000). The Sixteen Thirty Fund also almost single-handedly funded Proposition 118, the Paid Family and Medical Leave Act, on the November 2020 ballot.

In the 2018 election, the group focused on redistricting changes to the state Constitution, wage increase propositions and payday loan regulations, among others.

In the fundraising email, Hold Them Accountable says Boebert only won her seat “by a few percentage points,” calling the 3rd CD “purple” and winnable, claiming that even Boebert’s party has abandoned her.

“Even her own supporters have changed their minds about her. Those who voted along party lines are distancing themselves. They see her – and her treasonous behavior – as an attack on their traditional values. And a partisan organization is even calling for resignation or expulsion.”

These too are questionable claims, as Boebert beat Democrat challenger Diane Mitsch Bush by a full 6 percentage points and enjoyed a strong first quarter of re-election fundraising in 2021, bringing in over $846, 000 from January through March of this year.