City of Louisville Dismisses Campaign Complaint Filed by Pro-Redtail Ridge Lobby

A complaint lodged by a pro-Redtail Ridge lobby against “Citizens for a Vibrant, Sustainable Louisville” was dismissed on Monday by the City of Louisville.

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The complaint alleged that the Issue Committee opposed to the Redtail Ridge development violated the Fair Campaign Practices Act (FCPA). In a letter released Monday, March 28^th, City Clerk Meredyth Muth, rejected allegations of campaign improprieties by “Citizens for a Vibrant, Sustainable Louisville,” the grassroots organization opposing Redtail Ridge.

On April 19, Louisville voters will decide the future of Redtail Ridge, a massive commercial and industrial park to be built along US-36.

The complaint filed by “Yes for Louisville” alleged that “Citizens for a Vibrant, Sustainable Louisville” failed to put proper disclaimers on yard signs indicating the sponsor. The pro-Redtail Ridge group requested that yard signs opposing the three million square foot development be taken down.

“Citizens for a Vibrant, Sustainable Louisville” argued that this disclosure requirement does not apply unless a threshold for spending has been met. The City of Louisville agreed, writing: “The requirement for disclaimers applies to communications that cost $1,000 or more.”  The City Clerk noted that Citizens for a Vibrant, Sustainable Louisville distributed less than $1000 worth of yard signs.

The complaint also alleged that http://preservelouisville.org/, the domain name for the “Citizens for a Vibrant Sustainable Louisville,” could be a legal entity requiring registration with the city as an issue committee. City Clerk Muth also dismissed this “Yes for Louisville” claim, writing: “I agree…that PreserveLouisville.org is not operating as a separate issue committee. As such, I have determined that no FCPA violation occurred.”

Sherry Sommer, the registered agent for “Citizens for a Vibrant, Sustainable Louisville,” said she is pleased with the City of Louisville ruling. Sommer added: “At the same time, I am grieving over the unequal playing fields for resident groups and pro-development special interests in municipal elections in Colorado. It is clear that fairness in municipal elections requires increasing the spending limits for resident groups to prevent them from being hamstrung by trivial complaints based on technicalities.”

Brue Baukol Capital Partners, the Denver real estate investment firm that wants to build the 390-acre Redtail Ridge is suspected to be injecting big money into the “Yes for Louisville Campaign.” As reported in the Boulder Daily Camera on March 21, Terre Rushton, the registered agent for “Yes for Louisville”, said Yes for Louisville has ‘had a lot of individual contributions,” along with contributions from Redtail Ridge’s developer.

Many residents in Louisville feel Redtail Ridge is too big, too tall, will destroy natural habitat and will cause economic harm to the city by siphoning tenants from other parts of the city.