DENVER – A national dog fight has come to Colorado, or maybe it’s more like a hog fight.

An official complaint was lodged against the Humane Society of the United States with the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office in July, alleging the nonprofit giant is running “a deceptive and fraudulent” fundraising campaign.

“Most people think that when they give money to the Humane Society of the United States it’s going to go back to the local humane society and it’s just not the case,” said Will Coggin, director of research with the Center for Consumer Freedom. “They’re not upfront with the public about what their real agenda is.”

Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of HSUS, says the same thing about Coggin and the nonprofit Center for Consumer Freedom which is run by Richard Berman a Washington, D.C.-based lobbyist who earned his reputation by representing big tobacco, the food and beverage industry and most recently the agricultural industry, including pork producers.

“Basically if you find the most disreputable causes and controversial industries, Berman is their front man,” Pacelle said. “He sets up different front groups because it makes them sound like they have a patina of legitimacy. … There’s a lot of people who don’t like what we do, a lot of people have an ax to grind, I don’t think it’s news for one of those industries to criticize us.”

Both groups have websites dedicated to exposing the “dark secrets” of the other.

Coggin doesn’t shy away from the nonprofit’s connection with Berman. Berman is the Center’s executive director, the nonprofit pays his Berman and Company to manage it. Coggin is also paid by Berman and Company.

The group’s 2013 tax return discloses almost $1.5 million in donations, with $757,379 to Berman and Company for management, advertising and research.

“In terms of our motivation, I think we are pretty up front about that,” Coggin said, acknowledging that the Center for Consumer Freedom is funded by the food and restaurant industry among many other donors.

Most recently, the center has launched ad campaigns going after Chipotle, the fast food chain that made waves for dropping pork products that contained antibiotics and went genetically modified organism free. Coggin said the center also was behind opposition to former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s effort to ban big sodas.

The Humane Society’s primary work involves campaigns to end animal cruelty, notably by lobbying for laws that end certain practices in the agricultural industry – like gestation crates for pregnant swine (enter the hog industry). HSUS aired undercover video of pork swine confined to crates, giving them barely enough room to stand up and lie down for their entire lives. A law banning gestation crates was passed in Colorado with HSUS backing.

So is there anything to the Colorado complaint?

Pacelle says they are upfront about what the organization does – fight to end animal abuse. The groups logo is the United States map made up of a variety of animal shapes.

The Humane Society TV ads airing across the nation right now include disclaimers that local humane societies are independent from HSUS and are clear that the organization aims to stop animal abuse like seal hunts.

“Our ads if you see them, it will be immediately obvious that it’s just a group that’s about all animals,” Pacelle said.

But the Center for Consumer Freedom’s complaint looks at ads broadcast from 2009 to 2011 when HSUS raised hundreds of millions of dollars.

“Of the 28 different advertisements airing over 20,000 times, more than 85 percent of the animals in the advertisements are dogs, cats, puppies and kittens, with many shown inside cages or looking abused or neglected, creating the unequivocal perception to their targeted audience that contributions would be used to rescue, shelter and care for these pets,” the complaint says.

In 2014, the complaint calls out three ads specifically.

All three prominently feature dogs and cats being rescued from horrible conditions. They also show, less prominently, other animals like horses, chimpanzees and pigs.

The Secretary of State’s Office will investigate the complaint and has the authority to “deny, suspend, or revoke” the state registration of any charitable organization and to pass the investigation on to the Attorney General for possible criminal violations.

“The Humane Society of the United States does so much to help animals, from working to pass animal protection laws, to investigating animal cruelty cases and providing direct care for so many animals,” one ad says.

HSUS does provide direct care for animals through animal care centers in Ohio, Florida, Massachusetts, Oregon and California. All five focus on horses, wildlife or exotic animals.

A spokeswoman for the Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region said they are frequently asked if donations to HSUS go to the local shelter. She says there is some confusion, but they do get some grants from HSUS.

According to the 2013 tax returns for HSUS, the El Paso County shelter received an $1,865 grant to pay for the dental treatment of a malamute. There are hundreds of such local grants disclosed in the tax return to local shelters across the nation.

Coggin said those account for fewer than 1 percent of the $120 million HSUS discloses in its 2013 nonprofit tax return.

So what does HSUS spend its money on?

In 2015 HSUS spent about $19,000 lobbying in Colorado, according to lobbyist disclosure forms with the Secretary of State’s Office. Lobbyists supported two bills, and one became law requiring a study into how to better manage Colorado’s black bear population and bear-human conflicts. The other failed and would have made failing to report animal abuse a misdemeanor.

According to the group’s 2013 tax document, it spent $57 million on “advocacy and public policy” and $22 million on “cruelty prevention program and direct care and service.”

“The Humane Society is a group that fights for animals,” Pacelle said. “The universe of animal issues is not captured by helping dogs at a local shelter.”

Pacelle said the group’s work is more strategic, like a two-year undercover investigation into dogs being sold at flea markets with the potential to shut down large-scale puppy mills and stop the influx of homeless animals at the source.

“You can’t rescue your way out of many of the problems for animals when so many of the abuses are legal,” Pacelle said. “We wage a war for political or corporate or behavioral solutions to those issues.”

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Contact Megan Schrader: 286-0644

Twitter @CapitolSchrader