10/29/2026
Eric Washburn wants you to believe he speaks for Colorado’s hunters and anglers. Look at what he’s actually doing.
This fall, Washburn, president of the issue committee raising money to defeat Amendment 83, filed a petition accusing the Colorado Wildlife Council of illegal electioneering. The Wildlife Council exists to tell the public why hunting and fishing matter, and it’s paid for by a $1.50 surcharge on YOUR hunting and fishing licenses. Remember Hug a Hunter? That’s the council.
So what was he trying to shut down? “Supporting Science in the Wild.” Since 2023, that campaign has featured real CPW biologists and officers in the field, showing how license dollars pay for wildlife research, habitat, hatcheries and endangered species work. That’s it. That’s the campaign.
Washburn’s petition asked CPW to pull that outreach before this election and to permanently ban council spending for six months before every statewide election. In Colorado, that’s every year.
And his claims didn’t stand alone. They were echoed by the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the most aggressive anti-hunting groups in the West. A “hunters and anglers” committee and an anti-hunting organization making the same argument at the same time.
Now CPW Director Laura Clellan has made clear she does not believe the council broke the law. The Fair Campaign Practices Act bars state agencies from spending money that “urges” people to vote for or against a ballot measure, and these ads don’t do that. Their message is simply that hunting and fishing license fees pay for the science behind Colorado’s wildlife. No mention of 83. No mention of any ballot measure.
Even so, the ads went dark through Election Day as a precaution while the Secretary of State weighs in.
Think about what that means. Your license dollars, meant to tell Colorado why hunting and fishing matter, were silenced right before a vote on whether hunting and fishing deserve constitutional protection.
Friends of hunters don’t take hunters’ own dollars off the air.
Read the article. Then vote YES on 83.
https://www.aspentimes.com/news/colorado-parks-wildlife-director-violated-electioneering-laws-allegations/