New ad campaign launched against Lauren Boebert and her economic policies ahead of 2024 election

PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO)--A new six-figure ad campaign against Lauren Boebert and her economic policies started this month in Pueblo. The congresswoman currently represents the cities of Grand Junction, Durango, Aspen, Glenwood Springs, Ignacio, and Pueblo.

The organization Rocky Mountain Values claims the ads are to hold Boebert accountable for "failing to create economic opportunities and lower costs for Coloradans." The organization believes Boebert is wasting Colordans' tax dollars on self-promotion, conspiracies, and extremism.

The most recent ad highlights Pueblo veteran, Jerry Solano, and talks about how Medicare helped him cover two open-heart surgeries. Boebert has openly voted against programs like this in the past.

Political nonprofits like Rocky Mountain Values are also not allowed to explicitly advocate for one specific candidate over another, but can still run ads that are issue-based. Political ads that are paid for by political figures, a political committee, or are endorsing candidates must have a disclaimer so the viewer can know who paid for it so they can know who is trying to influence them.

On this ad, the organization put "paid for by Rocky Mountain Values."

Ryan Strickler, a political science professor at Colorado State University-Pueblo said there has been an increase in campaigning/campaign spending done by independent organizations that aren't aligned with any campaign or with any political party.

Strickler said they are able to work around campaign finance rules.

"If I'm a wealthy Democratic donor, I can donate $1,000,000 to Rocky Mountain values. I can't do that to that average campaign," said Strickler.

In a federal campaign, a person can only donate $3,300 per election to a candidate committee, according to the Federal Election Commission. But if you're an independent non-profit, any one person can donate as much money as they want.

this is not the first time the dark-money group has spent money attacking a Republican. Back in 2020, the Rocky Mountain Values put out ads disagreeing with the values of former Republican U.S. Senator, Cory Gardner. Gardner's team even tried to take down the ad, according to a post by Rocky Mountain Values.

Rocky Mountain Values said it's going to launch other campaigns targeting Bobert and her policies. This was just the first one.

Boebert will be up for re-election again in 2024.

KRDO reached out to Lauren Boebert's team for comment about these claims but has not received a response.