A yearslong legal dispute from the 2021 City of Boulder election that raised questions about political speech and campaign tactics has ended with an apology.
During a hearing in Boulder County District Court on Aug. 28, Eric Budd, a political organizer with the Boulder Progressives, apologized for creating a Twitter account under the name of former city council candidate Steve Rosenblum and using it to criticize his campaign.
“Every person who runs for office deserves thoughtful and fair treatment, and I apologize for the harm that I have caused you and the role my actions have played in coarsening our local political discourse,” Budd said as part of a lengthy statement read in court.
Rosenblum filed a lawsuit in 2021 alleging that Budd and other members of the Boulder Progressives conspired to spread defamatory statements about him. At the center of his claims was the creation of the Twitter account “@steveforboulder,” which linked to a blog called Safer Leaks that included several statements falsely attributed to Rosenblum.
The case was paused for about two years while defendants appealed under Colorado’s anti-SLAPP statute, a law designed to dismiss lawsuits intended to suppress free speech by burdening defendants with costly litigation. In August 2023, the appeals court issued a mixed ruling, dismissing claims against all defendants except Budd. The Colorado Supreme Court later declined to hear Budd’s petition, allowing the remaining claims to move forward to trial.
In July 2025, a District Court judge denied Rosenblum’s request for a summary judgment, which would have allowed him to win the case without a trial.
Beyond Rosenblum’s claims for financial damages, the case raised broader questions about the limits of political speech and campaign tactics under the First Amendment in Colorado, issues that could have set precedent statewide if taken up by the higher courts.
Rosenblum, who is no longer registered to vote in Boulder County, a sign of his retreat from local politics, expressed relief with the outcome and emphasized the importance of accountability in political campaigns.
“The defendant’s willingness to acknowledge the harm caused and apologize publicly in open court demonstrates that there are consequences for spreading disinformation in our local elections,” Rosenblum said in a statement. “I’m relieved that the truth will be heard publicly.”
Rosenblum’s attorney, Stan Garnett, told Boulder Reporting Lab on Thursday that the settlement was conditional on Budd’s apology, but terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
Both parties will pay their own attorneys’ fees, according to people familiar with the case.
During Budd’s apology, he said it was his right as a citizen and political activist to oppose Rosenblum’s candidacy and admitted to creating social media accounts in Rosenblum’s name to “direct people to the information about you that I wanted them to see.” He acknowledged that “some of that information was false” and apologized for the harm his actions caused to Rosenblum and the Boulder community. “I further understand that my actions damaged your professional and personal reputation and put you in a situation where you had to initiate litigation to clear your name,” Budd said in court.
The lawsuit also underscored divisions over Boulder’s approach to homelessness. Rosenblum ran on a platform backed by residents pushing for more spending on policing and clearing encampments of homeless people, positions opposed by many in the Boulder Progressives.
Because of the settlement, the core legal questions remain unresolved. Had the case gone to trial, Rosenblum would have needed to convince a jury that Budd’s creation of the account and link to the blog amounted to misappropriation and defamation and that it caused him harm. Rosenblum lost the 2021 race by about 2,000 votes.
Budd was expected to argue that his actions were protected under the First Amendment. His attorneys also cited Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which shields internet users from liability for content created by others. They argued this meant Budd wasn’t responsible for the blog content, only for linking to it.
Since the election, Budd has kept a lower public profile, though many of the causes he supported have advanced. He co-chaired the Bedrooms Are For People campaign to raise occupancy limits for unrelated people living together. State lawmakers later banned such limits, and Boulder repealed its regulations. Also, in 2022, voters approved moving council elections to even-numbered years starting in 2026, a change backed by the Boulder Progressives to increase voter turnout.
Brooke Stephenson contributed reporting.
Public trust in Boulder is regularly strained because popularity, politics, and truth so often become muddled. Truth is the one criterion that can’t be sacrificed, and it should be considered dangerous for everyone when the First Amendment is invoked as self-defense while such claims are not backed by fact. Boulder has a persistent problem when political activism relies on narratives that aren’t grounded in truth, and the consequences of that pattern are real. In my CCPA case (2025-CV-11 likely to go for years), I cited Rosenblum v. Budd to show how disputes over political speech can hinge on whether the information in circulation is complete and accurate (see Page 8 ¶42 via https://dembot.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Baron-v-Alden-Web-Amended-Complaint.pdf). My filings illustrate how quickly narratives can take hold and persist when context is missing. The harm lies not only in the initial misstatements, but also in the lack of accountability. As Rosenblum v. Budd illustrates, achieving an apology and accountability for misinformation required extraordinary effort at extraordinary cost.
True.