Messenger: Unclear

Candidate: Lori A. Saine

Contest: 8th Congressional District

Affiliation: R

Date delivered: May 31, 2022

Click here for message

Message type: mailer

Message tone: contrast

About the message:

This is at least the second mailer contrasting Republican Weld County Commissioner Lori Saine with Democratic state Rep. Yadira Caraveo on issues such as guns, abortion and support of former President Donald Trump. Saine is one of four Republicans seeking the 8th Congressional District nomination, while Caraveo is the lone Democrat in the contest. The union insignia would seem to indicate the mailer comes from a group aligned with Democrats. The mailer doesn't suggest voting for or against either candidate, so the sending group may or may not be disclosed to the Federal Election Commission.

About the messenger: If there's no indication of who delivered the message, well, it's unclear. This means there's no revelation on a robocall or "paid for by" on a mailer or door literature.

And, in fact, there's a loophole in Colorado law that doesn't require disclosure if a message doesn't explicitly say "vote for" or "vote against." And even candidates don't have to say if they delivered a message, according to the Secretary of State.

According to the Campaign Finance Institute, Colorado was one of only 10 states with such a loophole in 2016.

The messenger's money: This is the definition of "dark money." There's no way to know who paid.