Lakewood Informer

Resident generated news about Lakewood, Colorado

Lakewood Informer

Resident generated news about Lakewood, Colorado

compilation of images of 35 yard signs in lawns

Finance Complaint Against Referendum Fizzles

Hard-working, grassroots volunteers working on a popular referendum were hit with a campaign finance complaint from a political insider. The complaint alleges that money spent on getting a referendum printed needs to be documented through a campaign finance committee. The City Clerk deemed otherwise.

The original complaint was filed on October 20, 2025 by Kip Kolkmeier, former Chair of Lakewood Planning Commission and a vocal supporter of the zoning overhaul. He said that money spent on things like the extremely popular yard signs should be documented for transparency. He gathered pictures of many yard signs as evidence of improper behavior. He did not document that signs were meant to influence City Council votes before the referendum. Kolkmeier no longer lives in Lakewood.

The City Clerk filed the required response on October 23. The determination reads (in part and emphasis added):

“The Clerk further notes that Petitioners previously reached out to his office desiring to register as an issue committee prior to circulating their referendum petitions for signature. However, the City, as it is authorized to do, interpreted Code section 2.54.030(B)(1) as only applying to those accepting or making contributions or expenditures in excess of $200.00 to circulate initiative petition for signature. Under this interpretation, there is no requirement to register if a person or group accepts or makes contributions or expenditures in excess of $200.00 to circulate a referendum petition. As such, the City’s campaign finance registration software would require modifications made via manual changes to allow Petitioners to register before the ordinances they seek referendum upon become ballot issues or ballot questions as determined by section 2.54.030(B)(2).”

In other words, the referendum petitioners did everything they could to comply with the law. They asked for and received guidance from the City Clerk. The Clerk advised them that a campaign finance committee was not needed. In fact, it was determined to be unnecessary way before that, at the time the new campaign finance software was being designed – there was no possible way for a referendum petitioner to use the software to register a committee. (This can be and has been independently verified previously.)

The allegation of campaign finance violations was enough to spur more allegations from zoning overhaul supporters on nextdoor. One person, below, suggests the effort wasn’t legal and the signatures wouldn’t count. Disregarding signatures was never a legal option.

NOTE: BEFORE YOU SIGN and put your signature on the zoning code referendums, you might ask the group who heads this effort to explain: WILL this CAMPAIGN AND FiNANCE COMPLAINT EFFECT the signature gathering referendum? Apparently there is a legal campaign and finance complaint that has been filed

Another post alleges that the volunteers collecting signatures are getting paid, using the complaint allegations as proof of the allegations.

What happened to “innocent until proven guilty?”

"Before signing the petition against the new zoning codes, keep in mind how the people pushing this campaign complain about a lack of transparency from the city. How there's alleged corruption by City Council and city staff. Now take a look at the facts laid out in this campaign finance complaint: https://www.lakewood.org/files/assets/public/v/1/city-clerks-office/elections/2025-cf-complaints/10-20-2025-complaint-from-kiplund-kolkmeier.pdf Why are these ballot referendum people trying to keep housing costs so high? Are they being funded by property management companies throughout metro Denver? 🤔 🤔 Where's the money coming from for all of these "Don't Bulldoze!" yard signs? Where's the money coming from to print out petitions and pay "volunteers" for getting signatures? Where's the money coming from for their website? If these people want transparency, they should practice what they preach."

This seems to be a classic case of projection, casting accusations of what they themselves do onto others. The latest example is the use on nextdoor.com of calling zoning opponents “the landlord league.” It is yet to be determined if this catch phrase from out of town will take off but it’s a measure of zoning supporters’ desperation that they are calling all referendum supporters “landlords.” In reality, the new zoning will benefit investor landlords to such an extent that even the Mayor couldn’t say that there would be more home ownership opportunities. The new zoning code is exactly for the millionaire investor class who can outbid everyone. Residents will be allowed to rent from them.

"I do understand why the landlord league doesn't like the new zoning. It cuts directly into their profits"

Fortunately for the referendum, supporters are not buying the opponents propaganda, see the above “You guys are hilarious” comment. Petitioners are safe and do not face a fine since everyone involved, both on the resident and the city side, are all doing their best to conform with the law. The case is required to continue with a formal hearing, which may result in rewriting the law. Mandating a financial committee for a referendum would be one more hurdle in the short amount of time allowed for a referendum but past laws have required that in Lakewood. The past laws led to present-day confusion.

But there can be no doubt this is a grassroots effort. Over and over residents can be heard saying “we didn’t know about this!”  Now that they know, they don’t like it – and are taking action.

The final determination from the City Clerk reads, in part with emphasis added:

“Finally, if the hearing officer determines that Petitioners, as circulators of referendum petitions, were required to register pursuant to Code section 2.54.030(B)(1), the City will not be seeking any penalty for such failure to register because: 1) the City did not interpret its code in a manner requiring registration; and 2) if Code section 2.54.030(B)(1) does indeed require the circulators of referendum petitions to register either for the mere act of circulating a referendum petition or for accepting/making contributions or expenditures in excess of $200.00 to circulate a referendum petition for signature, then the Code lacks clarity and is thus open to multiple interpretations, thereby proving that a violation should not be punished.”

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