We Are Greeley, a nonprofit that critics describe as a “dark-money” group, provided at least $37,800 in cash and in-kind contributions to Greeley Deserves Better, the issue committee opposing the west Greeley Catalyst project.
That’s according to an amended filing that Greeley Deserves Better submitted to the city clerk Sept. 22. The group’s initial filing on Friday did not include the in-kind contributions.
Catalyst will include a new arena, hotel and water park along U.S. 34, with the arena serving as a new home for the Colorado Eagles minor-league hockey team. That development will be largely surrounded by Cascadia, a new mixed-use development by Windsor-based Water Valley Co.
The $1.1 billion project has divided Greeley residents, sparking petition drives to overturn various aspects of the development.
“Dark money” generally describes spending to influence elections where the source of the money is not disclosed.
We Are Greeley was registered as a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization with the Colorado Secretary of State July 16, listing a Fort Lupton mailing address and a Greeley physical address of 3620 W. 10th St., Suite B, the address of a UPS Store. The group’s registered agent is listed as the West Group, the Highlands Ranch-based law firm that employs Suzanne Taheri, the attorney who has represented Greeley Deserves Better.
The Secretary of State filing for We Are Greeley lists Marge Klein as the incorporator. Klein is president of SWS Polifi LLC, which provides financial management and reporting, election compliance reporting, and other services for political campaigns.
Klein formerly served as district director for then-Reps. Bob Beauprez and Bob Schaffer.
Greeley Deserves Better’s initial filing on Friday listed $13,540 in contributions and $6,480.15 in expenditures, but the amended filing lists contributions totaling $48,340, including $34,800 in non-monetary contributions from We Are Greeley. That organization also contributed $3,000 in cash.
A press release issued Friday on the initial campaign-finance filing justified the use of We Are Greeley to protect the identity of donors.
“This organization became necessary after numerous established business leaders and long-time community members expressed fears and instances of retaliation from city officials and project proponents for questioning the Cascadia financing arrangement,” the press release stated. “The organization allows concerned leaders to support the repeal effort without fear of the bullying that has become a hallmark of the project’s supporters.”
But Bill Rigler, a spokesperson for pro-Catalyst issue committee Greeley Forward, criticized the lack of transparency.
“The arrogance in this amended filing is breathtaking,” Rigler said. “This organization, in public comments, repeatedly affirmed full public disclosure and emphasized that they were 100% funded by grassroots Greeley residents.
“Through this disclosure, we now know indisputably that this organization was primarily funded by dark money. The amended disclosure includes a $35,000 ‘whoopsie’ that is a huge material omission, and begs the question, what else is Ms. Taheri hiding from public disclosure?”
Greeley Deserves Better states that donations to We Are Greeley are limited to Greeley residents.
We Are Greeley’s in-kind contributions came in two $17,400 in-kind tranches and were listed as being for signature gathering. The forms did not report any expenditures for Taheri’s legal work or for a poll that the campaign frequently touted but which pro-Catalyst groups have described as a “push poll,” with questions framed to elicit a certain response.
Taheri could not immediately be reached for comment.
Greeley Forward filed its campaign-finance report Sept. 5, but Greeley Deserves Better argued that the Sept. 5 deadline did not apply because the repeal question did not make it onto the ballot. Greeley Forward then filed a complaint, arguing that state law requires the first of four reports to be filed on Sept 5 if a campaign committee merely attempts to put an issue on the ballot, which Greeley Deserves Better did, even though it failed — at least for this year. The complaint added that state law mandates a $50-per-day fine for late filing.
Greeley Forward also did not list attorney’s fees when it filed its finance report in time for the Sept. 5 deadline. Its statement listed no contributions and $7,766.15 in expenses as of the Aug. 31 end of the reporting period.
Rigler told BizWest that the attorney’s fees were not included because his group had not yet received a bill from the office of the group’s lawyer, Christopher Beall of Denver-based Recht Kornfeld PC, as of Aug. 31.
Greeley Deserves Better had collected nearly 1,000 more verified signatures of registered Greeley voters than it needed to place the repeal question on the November ballot, but four Greeley residents protested the validity of the petitions, triggering an Aug. 26 hearing before city-appointed arbiter Karen Goldman, who ruled five days later that ordinances such as the one passed by the city council were administrative in nature, not legislative, and thus cannot be repealed by voters under state law. Greeley Deserves Better then asked Weld District Court to overturn Goldman’s ruling, but District Judge Allison J. Esser blocked the issue on the day before the deadline for adding it to the Nov. 4 ballot, contending that the dispute needed further review.
The underlying issues of that lawsuit remain undecided, but Greeley Deserves Better did withdraw a second lawsuit alleging that the Catalyst financing plan violated the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights.
Wednesday, the group announced that it would initiate another petition drive, this one to overturn the city council’s approval of zoning for the project.
— Dallas Heltzell contributed to this report.
This article was first published by BizWest, an independent news organization, and is published under a license agreement. © 2025 BizWest Media LLC.
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