Aug. 1—Boulder's city clerk determined Wednesday that the Boulder Airport Association — Save Boulder Airport committee, which is campaigning to keep Boulder's municipal airport open, has violated city election code by not disclosing required information on its political ads.
The finding comes in response to an election complaint filed last month by the Airport Neighborhood Campaign, a group that has put forward two citizen ballot initiatives for this fall that would close the Boulder airport and turn the area into housing.
In the complaint, the campaign accused the Boulder Airport Association of buying and promoting pro-airport political ads on Facebook that do not contain information about who paid for them. City code requires ballot measure committees that create political ads to clearly state which committee paid for the ads. If any donors made individual contributions of more than $1,000 to the ads, their names must be disclosed as well.
Additionally, the complaint alleges the Facebook ads are misleading because they appear to be posted by the Boulder airport itself instead of the Boulder Airport Association.
In an emailed response to the complaint, City Clerk Elesha Johnson wrote that she had found a violation, but that the Save Boulder Airport committee can "cure" the violation by following the city's disclosure requirements on all ads in the future.
"It is by this correspondence that I am notifying the respondent that going forward, all PAID communications are to have the appropriate designation ("Paid for by..." and "Major funding from...") included," Johnson wrote.
If the committee follows the clerk's instructions, the clerk will determine that there is no longer a violation. However, if the committee puts out print or electronic ads without the required information, the clerk will reopen the complaint and "seek further actions," according to the email.
Laura Kaplan, a member of the city's Planning Board who is working with the Airport Neighborhood Campaign in her personal capacity, said she's pleased the Save Boulder Airport committee has been notified of the violation and will comply with city code going forward.
"As always, that's the outcome we're looking for ... transparency and code compliance by all parties," she said.
Matt Moseley, campaign manager for the Save Boulder Airport committee, said in a statement that the committee had made a social media post about the Boulder Chamber supporting the airport using the words "sponsored by" instead of "paid for by," which he said was a "minor distinction." Screenshots from the complaint show that the ad says "sponsored" but does not say whom it was sponsored by.
He said the committee would comply with the city's guidelines going forward but also called the Airport Neighborhood Campaign's complaint "petty".
"It's easier for the proponents (of closing the airport) to focus on petty election complaints than to talk about how they know their proposals have real problems, create uncertainty, and are now costing taxpayers because Boulder is entangled in a nasty fight with the ( Federal Aviation Administration) where we weren't before," Moseley wrote, referencing Boulder's recently filed lawsuit against the FAA.
This was not the first election complaint the Airport Neighborhood Campaign has brought against pro-airport groups. In May, while the campaign was gathering signatures for its two ballot measures, the group filed a complaint alleging that the Boulder Airport Association and the Boulder Aviation Association worked to oppose the ballot petitions without disclosing their expenditures or contributions or registering as official ballot measure committees.
Johnson, the Boulder City Clerk, dismissed that complaint in June, saying that the Save Boulder Airport committee was formed after the city notified the groups of the requirement to set up an official ballot measure committee.
Originally Published: August 1, 2024 at 5:28 p.m.
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