Daily Sentinel and Post noted Hillman's work against ballot issue but not his role as GOP national committee member

Summary: The Daily Sentinel of Grand Junction and The Denver Post each referenced former Republican state Sen. Mark Hillman's involvement in working against a proposed ballot issue to eliminate the state property tax credit for oil and gas companies, but both publications failed to note that Hillman is a member of the Republican National Committee.

In a July 7 article about a legal complaint opposing a proposed ballot issue to eliminate the state property tax credit for oil and gas companies, The Daily Sentinel of Grand Junction noted former Republican state Sen. Mark Hillman's involvement in working against the ballot initiative but -- as in an earlier article -- omitted that Hillman is a member of the Republican National Committee (RNC), as Colorado Media Matters has noted. Similarly, a July 8 Denver Post article about the complaint by an energy industry-backed group against the initiative quoted "former state Sen. Mark Hillman" but identified him further only as "a Republican."

The July 7 Daily Sentinel article by Mike Saccone reported, "A political campaign hoping to defeat a proposed tax increase on energy companies operating in Colorado has filed a complaint in a Denver court, alleging the state is implementing a ballot measure voters have not yet approved." The article continued:

According to the complaint, filed by Coloradans for a Stable Economy, the Colorado Commission on Higher Education has wrongfully started formulating criteria for the distribution of scholarships a proposed severance tax initiative could create.

"Coloradans for a Stable Economy believes the Colorado Commission on Higher Education has exceeded its statutory authority by starting a rule-making process for a proposal that may not even be on the November ballot," said Bill Ray, the campaign manager for the anti-tax campaign.

The ballot measure would eliminate a property tax credit that allows energy companies to cancel out a large chunk of the taxes they owe on minerals they sever from the earth.

The ballot measure is expected to free up roughly $300 million for a series of new programs, including "Colorado Promise" scholarships for low-income Coloradans.

Dan Hopkins, spokesman for the Coloradans for a Stable Economy campaign, said the complaint was based, in part, on a recent open records request for documents detailing the Colorado Department of Higher Education work on the severance-tax ballot measure.

Former state Sen. Mark Hillman, R-Burlington, said he is not surprised Coloradans for a Stable Economy has benefited from his June 18 records request.

"I'm frankly happy that somebody is going to be able to take this thing on and hopefully have a ... judge decide if this is the state stepping over the line," Hillman said.

Similarly, the Post reported on July 8:

Opponents of a ballot initiative to eliminate a tax credit for the oil and gas industry filed a complaint Monday in Denver District Court, alleging that the Colorado Commission on Higher Education is unlawfully using state money to push for the measure.

The initiative would effectively raise taxes on the oil and gas industry by about $300 million a year. Sixty percent of that new money would go into what initiative supporter Gov. Bill Ritter has dubbed "Colorado Promise Scholarships," which he says would help low- and middle-income students pay for college.

At a meeting last month, the higher education commission told its staff to draw up some specifics on how the scholarship program would work.

The oil-and-gas-funded group opposed to the initiative, Coloradans for a Stable Economy, said that means taxpayer dollars are being used to boost the initiative. One area where critics have blasted the initiative is in its lack of specifics on how the scholarship program would work.

"The CCHE's rule making process is designed to increase support for the proposed initiative," the complaint states.

"I think if you just ask the simple question, 'If this wasn't the governor's initiative would CCHE be so quick on the trigger,' the answer is no," said former state Sen. Mark Hillman, a Republican who is not part of the complaint but who has raised concerns about whether the CCHE is improperly helping the initiative.

The complaint asks the court to stop the commission from planning the scholarship program until after voters have approved it.

As Colorado Media Matters noted when a June 19 Daily Sentinel article reported Hillman's open records request but omitted Hillman's position with the RNC, Hillman was elected national committeeman at the May 31 Colorado Republican Party convention. As the Sterling Journal-Advocate reported on June 2:

BROOMFIELD -- Colorado Republicans elected former state senator Mark Hillman to a four-year term on the Republican National Committee at Saturday's state GOP convention in Broomfield.

Hillman, a Burlington wheat farmer who also served in the State Senate and was previously appointed as state treasurer, will succeed former Congressman Bob Schaffer as one of Colorado's three voting members of the RNC.

—C.H.