Staffers from Republican gubernatorial hopeful Marc Holtzman’s campaign began the tedious process Wednesday of trying to rehabilitate rejected petition signatures.
The unofficial process took place in the secretary of state’s office with its representatives as well as staff members from the campaign of U.S. Rep. Bob Beauprez, the official Republican candidate for governor, and a stand- in for attorney Mike Norton, who is representing three Republican voters protesting Holtzman’s name being on the ballot.
Two weeks ago, the secretary of state ruled that Holtzman failed to gain enough valid signatures to make the ballot. Holtzman has filed a lawsuit contesting that ruling.
Of 513 rejected signatures, the group agreed to the validity of 496, Holtzman campaign manager Bob Gould said.
“We’re very happy about this,” Gould said. “As much as we can find mutual agreement, we want to.”
But Gould said the accepted signatures were from all across the state, not only in the 1st and 7th congressional districts, where Holtzman is short a total of 724 signatures. Beauprez’s campaign manager, John Marshall, said only 68 signatures were from those two districts.
“Their so-called evidence is laughable,” Marshall said. “They are hundreds and hundreds of signatures short, and they know it.”
The process is an attempt for all the interested parties to agree on a number of signatures before a hearing begins on Holtzman’s lawsuit next week. However, it is not legally binding. The Denver District Court is also holding a hearing on legal issues in the case Friday.
Meanwhile, former state Sen. John Andrews called for Holtzman to fire one of his attorneys, Mark Grueskin, because he had argued against a proposed ballot initiative to eliminate state services to illegal immigrants. In its ruling Monday, the Colorado Supreme Court agreed with Grueskin.
Holtzman supported the initiative and said he would back Gov. Bill Owens if he called a special session of the legislature. Those positions are inconsistent with having Grueskin as his legal counsel, said Andrews, who supports Beauprez for governor.
“I urge you to discharge Mark Grueskin and turn your case over to another lawyer who is not fatally compromised on the immigration issue,” he wrote in a statement.
Holtzman’s campaign said Grueskin wasn’t going anywhere.
“The bottom line is we have the best attorneys and this is just an attempt to derail us,” said Jesse Mallory, campaign spokesman.
Staff writer Karen Crummy can be reached at 303-820-1594 or kcrummy@denverpost.com.
