Messenger: Frontier Fairness

Candidate: Michael Johnston

Contest: Governor

Affiliation: D

Date delivered: May 17, 2018

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Message type: mailer

Message tone: positive

About the message: This mailer encouraging unaffiliated voters to support Democrat Mike Johnston in the June 26 gubernatorial primary declares "Mike Johnston isn't afraid of the NRA. He's afraid of more funerals for 14-year-olds."

The mailer claims "Johnston led the fight to pass universal background checks and put limits on high capacity magazines." While he voted for the two bills, it may not be quite accurate to say he "led the fight." Johnston isn't a co-sponsor of House Bill 1224 on limiting magazines, though he did vote for the bill. He was added as a co-sponsor to the background check bill after it passed the state Senate. You can also check out KDVR's Truth Check on the claims.

The independent spending group Frontier Fairness sent the mailer.

About the messenger: Frontier Fairness is an independent spending committee supporting former Democratic state Sen. Michael Johnston in the governor's race.

The messenger's money: Among the major donors to Frontier Fairness are former New York City mayor and businessman Michael Bloomberg at $2 million and LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman at $1 million; $100,000 from DaVita CEO Kent Thiry (who was once registered as a Republican); $500,000 each from hedge fund manager Stephen Mandel and his wife Susan. Kelley of Denver venture capital firm Vestar and Eric and Sara Resnick, of Vail, at $50,000 each. Also: $2,500 each from acting couple Felicity Huffman and William Macy.James