Posted on 05/17/2024 9:01:57 AM PDT by george76
The state's election office on Monday began proceedings against an advocate for wolves in Colorado over allegations of illegally lobbying during the 2024 session at the state Capitol.
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The complaints, filed in March by John Williams, who operates Colorado Wolf Tracker, claimed Stephen Capra and his organization, Bold Visions Conservation, lobbied multiple legislators on behalf of a paying client, all without registering and without disclosing the client’s identity as required by law.
The Elections Division of the Secretary of State launched the proceedings against Capra
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The bill Capra was lobbying on was House Bill 1375, which was sponsored by Rep. Tammy Story, D-Evergreen. It failed on a 4-9 vote in the House Agriculture, Water & Natural Resources Committee on April 1.
Wolves have killed nearly a dozen cattle in Grand and Jackson counties in the past month. Most of those kills are from nine of the 10 wolves imported into Colorado last December from Oregon, where they came from packs with a previous history of depredation activity. The tenth wolf was presumed to have been killed by a mountain lion in Larimer County, according to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.
The Elections Division's decision noted that Rachel Dern, the second accused of illegal lobbying, contacted Capra for his help on the Story bill.
"During their conversation, Dern also asked Capra to speak with Representative Story, which Capra agreed to do. During Capra’s conversation with Representative Story, Representative Story asked Capra if he could help with the legislation and agreed to set up a meeting between Capra and the Speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives," the division said. "On February 13 and 14, 2024, Capra appeared at the Colorado State Capitol and met with legislators, including the Speaker of the House, to discuss the Coexistence bill."
Capra described with Colorado Politics the meeting with House Speaker Julie McCluskie, claiming the speaker told him she did not support protecting wolves and refused to have her picture taken with "a wolf lover."
In February, Capra posted a video on the Bold Visions Conservation Facebook page, in which he discussed the meeting.
In that video, Capra said he was trying to push McCluskie "very hard to move this wolf bill out of the agricultural committee" and that she had agreed to delay the bill to give the backers more time to organize.
A separate meeting that included Capra and Dern involved Story, Democratic Reps. Brianna Titone of Arvada, Mandy Lindsay of Aurora, Julia Marvin of Thornton, Elizabeth Velasco of Glenwood Springs and Karen McCormick of Longmont, who chairs the House Ag committee. The other lawmakers are all members of the agriculture committee. McCormick and Titone voted against the bill; Story, Lindsay, Marvin and Velasco voted for it.
Capra posted a video on Feb. 14, in which he called Dern "a rockstar lobbyist."
The pair also distributed a flyer that didn't identify the organization who produced it.
The election division's decision said Capra admitted he lobbied for about six hours over two days on the bill. He is the only paid employee of Bold Visions Conservation, which is based in Montana. He told Colorado Politics he came to Colorado "at my expense, my organization's expense."
In his meeting with Story, Capra said he asked if there were any special requirements, since in Idaho and Montana one does not need to register as a lobbyist. She did not suggest any.
The Elections Division determined Capra lobbied on behalf of Bold Visions Conservation, which pays him for his services, and that he should have registered as a professional lobbyist.
Capra has never registered as a lobbyist, professional or otherwise, with the Secretary of State. He also did not file required disclosure statements as required by state law, the Elections Division said.
Capra has 30 days to respond to the Election Division's formal complaint.
Capra told Colorado Politics he is not a professional lobbyist but has lobbied in other states, such as Idaho, Montana and New Mexico, as well as at the federal level on wildlife issues. He disputed that wolves are killing livestock in Colorado, despite the information from Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
"You should be suspect of any game and fish agency in the West. They do not have good reputations," Capra said, adding ranchers are heavily subsidized by the federal government and admitted he has "a long record of not supporting ranchers."
The complaint against Dern was also filed in March. Capra said Dern is a member of Bold Visions.
The dismissal document from the Elections Division said Dern is a "retired hospice nurse living in Evergreen" and in her spare time volunteers for various causes, including funding for “'non-lethal coexistence strategies' intended to allow for the safe re-introduction of grey wolves to Colorado while simultaneously protecting livestock."
She has been involved with The Center for Biological Diversity, the Colorado Wolf Alliance and the Rocky Mountain Wolf Project, but only in a volunteer capacity, the dismissal document said.
Volunteer lobbyists need not register with the Secretary of State before lobbying but must register with the Colorado General Assembly, according to the election division's decision in the Capra case. House rules require volunteer lobbyists to register with the Chief Clerk, and according to the 2024 General Assembly list, Dern never registered as a volunteer lobbyist.
Colorado Ping ( Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from the list.)
Gray wolf killed by mountain lion.. in Colorado .. Larimer County on April 18.
https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/gray-wolf-found-dead-colorado-likely-killed-mountain-lion/
I can’t wait till they get here to Boulder and snatch little fluffy.
Good for that Larimer county mountain lion.
I can live with their presence but I’m not at all keen on being confronted by wolves.
I am fine with them getting Little Fluffy or whatever name he goes by this week, as long as they don't hurt his dog.
Yeah, you’re right, I don’t want the pups hurt either.
Yeah, you’re right, I don’t want the pups hurt either.
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