Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) and Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-WY) are holding a joint fundraiser this Friday at 12:30 p.m. at the Brown Palace in Denver.
While the co-host list is still in formation, The Colorado Times Recorder has learned it includes wealthy conservatives Larry A. Mizel and Pete Coors.
Boebert was recently filmed running up the House steps after discovering she missed a crucial vote to suspend the national debt ceiling, despite claiming earlier on Twitter that her absence was an intentional protest.
Hageman, like Boebert, is an election denier and was endorsed by former President Donald Trump during the 2021 Wyoming House GOP primary when she ousted incumbent Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY). Hageman is an anti-abortion advocate and is dedicated to “stopping the radical Biden agenda,” according to her campaign website.
Both Boebert and Hageman sit on the House Committee on Natural Resources and will also appear at the Western Conservative Summit on Friday.
Boebert and Hageman are charging $500 for general attendees, $1,000 for VIP Individuals, $2,500 for the Co-Host Level, and $6,600 for the Chairman Host Level. Donors at the Co-Host level and above also get to attend an “intimate insiders Round Table prior to general reception.”
Given that there are four known co-hosts, Boebert and Hageman will make at least $10,000 from their contributions alone.
Coors, who retired as CEO of MolsonCoors in 2019, has been a prominent Republican donor, candidate and conservative activist. He ran unsuccessfully for Colorado’s Senate in 2004.
Mizel a long-time Republican donor who co-chaired the 2016 Trump campaign in Colorado, founded several charities whose missions appear to be at odds with several of Boebert’s statements.
Mizel is a Denver-based political donor and the founder and Executive Chairman of M.D.C. Holdings, Inc., parent company to Richmond American Homes, the only Colorado-based national homebuilder. Mizel is also a co-founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a human rights organization based in Los Angeles, California, committed to fighting antisemitism and hatred.
The Wiesenthal Center contains “cutting-edge technology” and exhibits that explore “pressing topics ranging from hate and antisemitism, LGBTQ+ issues, racism, climate change, homelessness, immigration, policing, and the COVID-19 pandemic,” according to their website. In 2019 the Center opened the Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem, which focuses on “global anti-Semitism, extremism, hate, human dignity and responsibility, and promoting unity and respect among Jews and people of all faiths.”
Mizel and his wife, Carol, also founded the Mizel Institute, an organization “committed to developing a more educated, conscientious and empowered community.” Last September, the Mizel Institute hosted Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, who gave a speech about the rise of antisemitism. More recently, the institute honored Governor Jared Polis.
Mizel sits on the board of American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and is a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Reached by phone for comment, Mr. Mizel hung up on a Colorado Times Recorder reporter.
Neither Mizel’s company, MDC Holdings, nor the Mizel Institute returned email requests for comment. This article will be updated with any response received.
Despite Mizel’s various organizations advocating for human rights issues, and Mizel himself being a firm advocate for the Jewish community, he is still a co-sponsor of the fundraiser, with Boebert having said racist and anti-LGBTQ+ remarks in the past.
Boebert was widely criticized for a May 25 tweet in which she claimed President Biden’s newly announced national plan to combat antisemitism, was in fact a way to “go after conservatives.”
Last January, Boebert asked a group of Jewish visitors at the Capitol building if “they were there to do ‘reconnaissance’” shortly after a 12-hour hostage situation at a synagogue in Colleyville, Texas.
Boebert was also criticized by The Times of Israel for comparing the U.S. government’s efforts to vaccinate the population against COVID-19 to Nazis and the Holocaust, tweeting that “Biden has deployed his Needle Nazis to Mesa County.”
Besides Coors and Mizel hosting Boebert and Hageman’s fundraiser, oil and gas executive Steve Struna is also listed as co-host.
Struna, who runs Bayswater Exploration, is a member of Colorado Concern, an organization founded by Mizel that consists of “exclusive executives” committed to improving and “protecting the Centennial State’s business climate.”
The fundraiser will occur on Friday, June 9, from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.
CORRECTION: Due to an editing error, a previous version of this article incorrectly listed Colorado House Deputy chief of Staff Roger Hudson as an additional co-host. It also listed Mizel as CEO of MDC Holdings, rather than his current title, Executive Chairman and incorrectly characterized the company headquarters location. The Colorado Times Recorder regrets these errors.
Deputy Editor Erik Maulbetsch contributed to this article.
