BizWest reports that the Colorado Secretary of State’s Elections Division upheld one campaign-finance complaint tied to opponents of Greeley’s proposed Catalyst entertainment district, while dismissing several others. The complaint targeted With Many Hands, a nonprofit described in the article as a spinoff of the Tides Foundation, over digital ads supporting a petition drive against the city-owned Catalyst project on Greeley’s west side.
According to BizWest, Tides Center Inc., acting through With Many Hands, ran more than $7,000 in digital ads supporting Greeley Deserves Better’s effort to qualify a ballot measure for the November 2025 municipal election. That measure would have sought to repeal the city’s financing plan for Catalyst. The Elections Division found the ads failed to properly identify that they were “paid for by” Tides Center and did not identify the registered agent, as required by state law.
The ruling dismissed other allegations, including claims that Tides and With Many Hands were acting as an unregistered issue committee and failing to file 48-hour expenditure reports. Still, the state found enough smoke in the campaign-finance paperwork to uphold one complaint and assess penalties. Welcome to the new local politics, where your neighbor’s concern meeting now comes with out-of-state infrastructure, nonprofit layers, Facebook ads, and the faint smell of professional activism in a Patagonia vest.
The Bullet Point Brief
- The Secretary of State’s Elections Division upheld one campaign-finance complaint connected to opposition against Greeley’s Catalyst project. One count stuck. Several others did not. That is called “mixed results,” or in politics, “everyone will now claim victory.”
- The complaint involved With Many Hands, which BizWest describes as a spinoff of the Tides Foundation. Tides is not exactly three neighbors around a kitchen table with coffee and a legal pad.
- The Elections Division found Tides spent $7,318.45 on 12 Facebook ads urging people to sign the petition, but the ads failed to properly say they were paid for by Tides and failed to name Tides’ registered agent.
- The state dismissed claims that Tides and With Many Hands were an unregistered issue committee or failed to file certain 48-hour reports. So, no, not every allegation landed. Facts still matter, even when the grift smells familiar.
- BizWest also notes earlier complaints involving Greeley Demands Better and We Are Greeley, groups tied to the successful ballot issue that repealed city-approved zoning for Catalyst and the surrounding Cascadia development. Local politics just got a lot less local.
My Bottom Line
Breaking news out of Weld County, and it partially confirms what my gut has been telling me for a while: we are entering a new era of politics here.
This is not the old Weld County way. Not neighbor talking to neighbor. Not a commissioner, council member, school board member, or mayor sitting across from the people they represent and hashing it out in plain English. That version was not always perfect, but it was real. It was local. It was ours.
Now the paid activist and grifter class has discovered us. The article ties this campaign activity to With Many Hands, described as a spinoff of the Tides Foundation. That matters because it shows the shape of what is coming. More outside money. More professional agitation. More slick Facebook ads. More layered nonprofits with friendly names that sound like church quilting groups but operate like political machinery with better branding.
And yes, some complaints were dismissed. That is important. I am not going to pretend the state found every allegation true just because it fits my mood. But one complaint was upheld, and the core fact remains: outside activist infrastructure came into a local Greeley fight and failed to follow at least part of Colorado’s campaign-finance disclosure law. That is not nothing.
It is too bad, really. Weld County has always been a good place to be. We argue. We disagree. We fight over growth, roads, water, schools, zoning, oil and gas, and the future of our communities. But at our best, we do it as neighbors. The grifters have arrived, and that means it will get noisier, nastier, more expensive, and a whole lot less genuine. We had better learn to spot the difference between local concern and imported activism before the whole place starts sounding like Boulder with cattle.
Source: BizWest
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