Billionaire Michael Bloomberg has written extra checks totaling $2.2 million to assist buttress the marketing campaign to save lots of Denver’s flavored tobacco ban, in line with a brand new finance report.
Bloomberg donated that quantity on to the pro-Referendum 310 marketing campaign over the past two weeks of October, as Tuesday’s election approaches. The report filed late Friday for the supporters’ marketing campaign, “Denver Youngsters vs Large Tobacco,” additionally included a $49,500 in-kind donation from Bloomberg cited for analysis.
The previous New York Metropolis mayor, a staunch opponent of the tobacco trade, is now liable for simply shy of $5 million of the $5.8 million in fundraising by the Denver marketing campaign, which has recently aired TV advertisements. A lot of the remainder of its help has come from the Tobacco-Free Youngsters Motion Fund, in line with Denver’s marketing campaign finance dashboard.
The Bloomberg cash has dwarfed fundraising by the principle opposition marketing campaign practically 9-to-1. That group, referred to as “Citizen Energy!”, has raised $646,311, together with $91,181 in the course of the Oct. 15-29 interval coated by the reviews due Friday.
A frontrunner of that marketing campaign beforehand characterised the combat as a “David vs. Goliath story.”
The opponents filed the petition to place Referendum 310 on the poll, in hopes of overturning an ordinance handed by the Metropolis Council late final yr. The poll measure asks Denver voters whether or not to retain the ordinance, which bans gross sales inside metropolis limits of most flavored tobacco and nicotine merchandise, from flavored vapes to menthol cigarettes.
Due to the best way it’s worded, a “sure” vote would hold the ordinance and a “no” vote — which is urged by the petitioners — would repeal it.
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The Citizen Energy! marketing campaign’s main supporters have been tobacco corporations and vape retailer advocates, together with a neighborhood trade affiliation.
They argue the town’s prohibition will damage many unbiased retailers, scale back tax income to the town and stop adults from making their very own selections. Supporters of the ban say it is about protecting underage youth from shopping for flavored merchandise that would lure them into a lifetime of habit.
Fundraising by bond committee
Elsewhere on Denver’s poll, the Vibrant Denver Bond committee on Friday reported elevating $376,900 in the course of the late-October reporting interval, bringing its whole to greater than $1.9 million. The marketing campaign was marshalled in help of Poll Points 2A via 2E, which might authorize $950 million in borrowing to pay for a slate of highway initiatives, constructing upgrades and different capital initiatives throughout the town.
The marketing campaign’s cash has come from a mixture of rich donors, contractors, lobbyists, unions and cultural organizations, together with a number of that will profit from initiatives within the bond. The highest contributors have been former DaVita CEO Kent Thiry, who’s given $100,000; Gary Advocacy LLC, which has given $75,000 and is related to Gary Group Ventures, previously led by Mayor Mike Johnston; and Jacobs Engineering Group, which has additionally contributed $75,000.
Different notable donations embody $50,000 every from the Denver Artwork Museum, the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, the Denver Botanic Gardens, the Denver Zoo and the Denver Heart for the Performing Arts.
A small opposition group, referred to as “Residents for NO New Debt,” has reported spending $8,235.72 towards the bond package deal.
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