Denver (AP) A judge says a nonprofit think tank that opposed the state budget fix proposal Referendum C does not have to disclose its campaign donors. The ruling Friday said that ordering Jon Caldara and the Independence Institute to disclose contributors would put other nonprofit organizations at risk of having to disclose donors.

Proponents of Referendum C said Caldara had to list contributors under campaign finance laws covering issue committees, which advocate for or against a ballot issue, but Caldara said the institute's ads only educated voters without taking a position.

A judge also agreed with him that nonprofit think tanks aren't in the same class as issue committees.

Proponents of Referendum C are mulling an appeal.

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