Independence Institute's Corry, Face the State's Jones used KNUS program to misinform about Benson opposition

Summary: On February 17, during a discussion on KNUS 710 AM's Backbone Radio about "objections" to Bruce Benson being named University of Colorado president, Brad Jones of the "news" website Face the State and Jessica Peck Corry of the Independence Institute failed to mention Benson's role in founding the Trailhead Group, a tax-exempt, Republican-backed campaign organization that aimed misleading attack ads at Democrats in 2006. Corry suggested that "liberals" objected to Benson because he "believes in making money" and is a "capitalist success story."

While discussing the "objections" to Bruce Benson being named the lone finalist for the position of University of Colorado president, guest co-hosts Brad Jones and Jessica Peck Corry during the February 17 broadcast of KNUS 710 AM's Backbone Radio omitted Benson's role in founding and funding the now-defunct Trailhead Group, which in 2006 targeted state Democrats with attack ads criticized for using misleading or distorted claims.

Jones is the founder and managing editor of the "news" website Face the State; Corry is a policy analyst with the "free market" Independence Institute. As Colorado Media Matters has documented, Jones worked as a research associate at the Independence Institute under the direction of Corry, who heads the think tank's Campus Accountability Project. The regular host of Backbone Radio, John Andrews, is the former president of the Independence Institute.

As the The Denver Post reported in a February 16 online article, "More people are against University of Colorado sole presidential finalist Bruce Benson than are for him, according to more than 500 surveys the school has received from professors, students and community members." The Post further reported:

The vast majority of faculty weighed in against Benson, an oil CEO and Republican party operative. Students were mostly split on all four campuses. Community members were mostly favorable for Benson.

CU's regents will vote Wednesday on whether to accept Benson as the president of the four-campus university.

During the broadcast, after Jones asked, "[W]hat are the objections to Bruce Benson himself?" Corry referred to Benson's career in the oil industry, saying, "Well, let's just step outside of the oil debate, because obviously there are people in Boulder who think that we should all ride our bikes everywhere." Corry later added, "So that aside, I think their objections -- just the, sort of the capitalist success story. This is a man who started out on his own, strapped an oil rig to the back of his pickup truck, and he made it, and he did it on his own. And maybe that's a threat to people who believe that we need this socialist, utopian system where government is the answer for everything." At another point in the broadcast, Corry stated that "the liberals in Boulder are very upset that you have a Republican oilman being seriously considered and promoted as the university's next president" and that they "really don't have legitimate objections to this man [Benson] that is actually much more liberal than a lot of Democrats in power right now."

While Corry also stated that Benson "in the past has been a strong fundraiser for Republicans," neither she nor Jones noted Benson's role in founding and funding the controversial Trailhead Group, which has been criticized for running misleading attack ads during the 2006 election campaign. As Colorado Media Matters has noted, Benson and other leading Colorado Republicans founded Trailhead -- a so-called 527 group that is tax-exempt and can receive unlimited contributions for political campaigning activities -- after Democrats took control of the state legislature in 2004.

Among Trailhead's attack ads was one criticizing the number of plea bargains issued by then-Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill Ritter while he was Denver district attorney. As the Post noted in a September 12, 2006, editorial (accessed through the Nexis database):

The Trailhead ad criticized Ritter's plea bargain rate -- 97 percent of his cases -- saying Ritter has a record of "aggressive plea bargaining." It sounds irresponsible and reprehensible until you learn that Ritter's rate was barely above the national average -- and less than [Republican state Attorney General John] Suthers'.

As the Boulder Daily Camera reported on February 1, "Benson has drawn ire from Democrats for the millions of dollars he's helped pour into political advertising against Democrats, much of it negative. For example, the Trailhead Group, of which Benson is a major donor, vigorously fought to keep state Rep. Bernie Buescher, D-Grand Junction, from winning his seat."

The Daily Camera article also reported the concerns of CU Regent Steve Ludwig, who voted against making Benson the sole finalist for the president's job:

"My concern is that we are very dependent on a great relationship with the state Legislature," Ludwig said. "He upset a lot of people with the Trailhead Group that he helped fund."

From the February 17 broadcast of KNUS 710 AM's Backbone Radio:

JONES: Jessica, some of you may know her from another one of the hats I didn't mention -- the Independence Institute runs the Campus Accountability Project there at II, and one of the favorite things that the Campus Accountability Project has been working on over the years is the imbalance in ideological diversity at the University of Colorado, particularly the University of Colorado at Boulder, but all three of the campuses. And this is all really coming to a head, Jessica, as we talk about the nomination or -- I don't really know what we call it -- nomination, selection, appointment, you know -- of Bruce Benson, oilman, businessman, fundraiser supreme -- to the presidency of the University of Colorado, and of course, they're all crying foul up there in Boulder. What gives, Jessica; what's the issue here?

CORRY: Well, the liberals in Boulder are very upset that you have a Republican oilman being seriously considered and promoted as the university's next president. They clearly have many, many gripes with this man, Bruce Benson. He believes in making money; he believes in being able to keep the lights on in the university. He has in the past been a strong fundraiser for Republicans. And, all joking aside, they really don't have legitimate objections to this man that is actually much more liberal than a lot of Democrats in power right now.

JONES: Well, that's true, and let's step back a second here and look at the overall context here. The whole reason we're searching for a president of the University of Colorado all goes back to the second-to-last president of CU -- Hank Brown being the current one, sort of in the interim between Betsy Hoffman and now what looks like maybe Bruce Benson or somebody else. But the whole reason we're in this position really has to do with football scandals, and bad PR, and anemic fundraising numbers heralded in by CU's last real full-time, long-term university president, Betsy Hoffman. We're in this position because the university didn't know how to handle the scandal that surrounded, really, football recruiting and parents being fearful about sending their kids to CU.

CORRY: That's right, and I think a lot of modern universities struggle for what the identity of a president should be. Should this be an academic, or should this be a fundraiser? Who should this person be? And clearly, with universities complaining every day, day in, day out, 24 hours a day -- there's entire news stations dedicated to just promoting the dire financial straits of our universities --

JONES: Bruce Benson --

CORRY: We need somebody who's gonna make money for the university. This is a man who can do that. He is not an academic --

JONES: He does not have a Ph.D., which --

CORRY: We shouldn't have academics, quite frankly, at the helm.

JONES: Well, that's a good question. A lot of folks, particularly in the Boulder Faculty Senate, have been saying that Bruce Benson doesn't even have a graduate degree --

CORRY: Good.

JONES: He doesn't have a master's. And your response of "Good" is really getting to the core of what you were saying there is, who is -- I mean, what is the presidency of the University of Colorado, and what should they be doing? Quite honestly, we've got a weird setup in Colorado.

[...]

JONES: OK, so there's the discussion about whether or not the University of Colorado should have an academic, a Ph.D., at the helm, or they should have a fundraiser, a philanthropist, a manager at the helm. But let's talk about the man himself, Bruce Benson. Bruce Benson's a guy who made his money in oil. He made his money in oil exploration, oil distribution. This is a Western citizen who is really at the forefront of an industry that is becoming increasingly important in Colorado, which you would think would be an asset. So what are the objections to Bruce Benson himself?

CORRY: Well, let's just step outside of the oil debate, because obviously there are people in Boulder who think we should all ride our bikes everywhere. Not drive cars -- which, of course, no oil -- and there might, no oil was ever used to heat their homes, to build their bikes, to distribute the food to any of the grocery stores they shop at -- none of it. We don't need oil. So that aside, I think their objections -- just the, sort of the capitalist success story. This is a man who started out on his own, strapped an oil rig to the back of his pickup truck, and he made it, and he did it on his own. And maybe that's a threat to people who believe that we need this socialist, utopian system where government is the answer for everything.

JONES: All right, well, the University of Colorado -- all three campuses, where we send our best and brightest here in this state -- and this is what they have to say about Bruce Benson, the sole finalist for the position of president of the University of Colorado. "Grotesquely inappropriate," "appalling," "disastrous" and "for shame." Those are all quotes in today's Rocky Mountain News reported from surveys that were taken at the different campuses as to the sense of students and faculty -- informal, obviously they couldn't ask everybody, but at the Boulder campus 530 faculty and students who were surveyed opposed, 70 supportive.

—C.H.