No one has ever accused Marc Holtzman of not having excellent connections. (After all, he’s collected cash for his gubernatorial run from everyone from Peggy Fleming to John Elway.) However, some of his donors have raised eyebrows with a few fellow Republicans.
As one of them said: He’s promising to rebuild Colorado’s Republican Party from the ground up, but he’s doing it with help from some of the Democratic Party’s big-hitters. Among his financial supporters are David Bonderman, founding partner of Texas Pacific Group, and Stewart Resnick, Roll International chairman. Both men have given Holtzman $1,000, the max under state law, but have given much more to Democrats over the years.
Bonderman recently gave more than $600,000 to John Kerry‘s 2004 presidential campaign, the Democratic National Committee and liberal 527 groups. Resnick gave almost half a million to similar causes, and he’s helping the Democrat who wants to unseat California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Some Friends of Bill, such as Ronald Perelman and Ronald Dozoretz, also have hosted East Coast fundraisers for the former University of Denver president.
Holtzman the businessman developed lots of his relationships before he became Holtzman the politician, spokesman Dick Leggitt said.
“Those relationships are stronger than whether you have an R in front of your name,” he said. As proof of that, Holtzman contributed to the campaign of Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, who just might end up his rival.
So far, Holtzman has raised about $1.3 million, not including $250,000 of his own money he kicked in last month.
Following the money
Speaking of guv’s race money, try to picture this TV commercial: A beaming Bob Beauprez grips an oversized check and says, “You know what this is it? It’s a check. And do you know who got it for me? Frank Azar!”
That’s right. Denver’s favorite ambulance-chasing lawyer is a Beauprez supporter, maxing out his contribution to the congressman’s gubernatorial campaign at $1,000. Azar’s donation was reported in Beauprez’s most recent filing, which cements the congressman’s status as the GOP insider in the race with cash coming from establishment types such as University of Colorado regent Steve Bosley, state Sen. Nancy Spence, state Rep. Cory Gardner, lawyer Troy Eid and four different people named after a famous Colorado beer.
Protecting property rights
Your home is your castle – unless of course, local government would rather see a tax-producing Wal-Mart there.
Rep. Al White is running a bill and a group called Colorado Citizens for Property Rights is revving up a ballot measure to protect property rights in the aftermath of last year’s Kelo Supreme Court ruling that upheld eminent domain powers for economic development.
The measure would prohibit the taking of private land except for “public use.” It would exclude economic development as a reason.
Expect to see John Malone, the Liberty Media chief, as one of the ballot measure’s chief financial backers. The billionaire owns more than 60,000 acres here.
Wooing just some unions
Former Denver District Attorney Bill Ritter‘s bid for governor has the support of several labor unions, most recently the Teamsters, but his selection of Barbara O’Brien as his running mate isn’t sitting well with some teachers’ union folks. As president of the Colorado Children’s Campaign, O’Brien helped write two bills that aimed to create the state’s first voucher program.
On second thought
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid‘s suggestion in this column two weeks ago that he’s going to “fight to get Ken Salazar on the Appropriations Committee” perked up some ears in Sen. Wayne Allard‘s office. Allard already sits on the committee, and his spokesman says two senators from the same state can’t sit on the committee at the same time. And Allard ain’t budging.
Dan Haley (dhaley@denverpost.com. ) is a member of The Post’s editorial board.
