Face the State

Face The State Staff Report

With a stroke of the pen today, President Barack Obama will enact the largest single federal spending package in history. He will do so inside Denver's Museum of Nature and Science, a facility heavily subsidized by Denver taxpayers and one that stands in stark contrast with Obama's own pledges regarding open government.

Denver Museum of Nature and ScienceMisterHand/Wikimedia Commons

The museum is the single largest recipient of grant money from the Scientific & Cultural Facilities District, a multi-county sales tax district created by the state. In 2008, the DMNS was budgeted to receive nearly $7 million in appropriations, although little information is available as to how exactly this money is spent. Despite receiving significant annual funding from taxpayers, the museum is tight-lipped as to its operations and expenses, citing its status as a 501(c)(3) non-profit.

Museum lawyers claim the organization is not subject to the state's open-records law, saying bare bones disclosures submitted to the tax district satisfy its public reporting requirements. In addition to public revenue from the SCFD, the museum occupies a building owned by the City and County of Denver.

On the campaign trail, Obama promised a new era of government transparency. As President, he is touting an online database of federal economic recovery spending, available at recovery.gov, as a way for the public to keep government accountable. "This is your money. You have a right to know where it's going and how it's being spent," the site reads.

The choice of venue for today's signing ceremony raises questions over just how committed politicians at all levels of government are to the cause of open government.

"It's a great irony that the big stimulus bill that nobody's read, nobody knows what's in it, will be signed in a building with secrecy around its funding," said state Sen. Scott Renfroe, R-Greeley. Renfroe is considering introducing legislation to require greater public disclosure by non-profit organizations receiving significant taxpayer funding.

DMNS officials first denied a request from Face The State for budgetary and other financial information in late 2007. On Monday, museum spokesperson Laura Holtman reiterated that the organization's minimal disclosures to the SCFD fulfilled its legal reporting requirements. Follow-up inquiries as to the possibility of a policy change coincidental with Obama's visit were not answered by press time.

The SCFD's 2007 annual report, the most recent available, is only 12 pages in length, detailing total expenses of nearly $43 million.

The museum came under fire in 2007 for donating $300,000 to a successful campaign to raise Denver property taxes by $500 million, $30 million of which will flow back to the DMNS. Museum officials said at the time that the political contribution came from ticket sales and other visitor revenue, not public funds. Without basic information as to the non-profit's finances, however, Face The State is unable to independently verify the museum's claims.