Where’s the Money?

Updated November 4, 2023

Funds Donated to 2021 Issue Committee Unaccounted for; Bank Account Closed

By Jessica Schneider, Editor

Research contributed by Doug Luithly

The Loveland Voice

October 29, 2023

The November 7th election is coming up quickly. In our research into the influence of dark money, we discovered additional murky financial reporting issues going back to 2021. This isn’t dark money, though… However, due to lack of reporting, how the funds were spent remains a mystery. 

The City of Loveland website for the 2021 Coordinated Election lists campaign finance reports for all candidates and committees. Financial reports are required at 21 and 14 day increments, as well as the Friday before an election. Final reporting on all donations and expenditures are due in the month following an election. Any money not spent is required to be donated to charity, or returned to donors.

One committee, The Loveland Coalition for Accountability and Transparency, however, did not report any spending at all, or donations of unspent funds. The committee also appears not to have been terminated, although the official bank account for the issue committee has been closed.

So where is that money now?

I contacted one donor, Bob Massaro, to ask if the money he donated had been returned to him. He was surprised to learn that the committee didn’t spend any funds, and says he has not received any money back.

Massaro says he donated to several causes Ward 2 Councilor Andrea Samson promoted in 2021.

“If Andrea was supporting it, we were putting money into it, at that time,” said Massaro. “Now I want my money back.”

I asked the registered agent for the committee, Kathleen “Kasey” Mullins, where the accounting is for the funds donated to the committee, how Councilor Samson was involved, and if the committee was ever terminated.

“Off the top of my head, money was spent on a full page ad and a text campaign,” said Mullins.

When I asked her where the accounting was for the spending, and why the Committee was running ads and text campaigns when Councilor Samson wasn’t running for election (Samson was elected in 2019), Mullins stopped replying to my questions.

Coldiron has confirmed that the three reports publicly available for the Issue Committee are the only reports she has received. She also said that she sent out notices to Mullins on December 3, 2021 and April 15th 2022.

According to The City of Loveland Charter, when reports are not received, the next step is to notify the City Manager, currently Steve Adams. TLV has asked when that reporting occurred. We do not have an answer to that question from the City at this time. 

Councilor Samson, who actively raised funds for The Loveland Coalition for Accountability and Transparency, and is running for reelection for Ward 2, did not respond to request for comment on the issue.

The three reports filed are available here, here and here and on the City website.

We continue to be unable to locate any financial reporting outside of the three listed above. City Clerk Coldiron said she has a meeting with Mullins next week to resolve the issue. We will continue to make updates as we learn more.