The state Republican Party is hurting for cash. Federal financial disclosures as of April 30 showed the party was $261,907 in debt. A filing with the secretary of state a month earlier showed $11,310.51 in the bank.
Republican insiders said party officials are trying to renegotiate payment on contracts and searching for cheaper offices.
New party chairman Dick Wadhams acknowledged that he inherited debt when he took office in March and “is taking a look at other places” for party offices. The next financial filings will reflect the party’s ongoing fiscal problems, he said, but declined to give details.
Wadhams said he knew when he took the job that the party’s debt was “one of the hangover items from the 2006 elections” and that fundraising would be a key priority. But reconnecting with the party’s activist base and with state lawmakers after back-to-back legislative defeats was his first task. Since March, he has made 60 speeches to rally the troops, which could help raise money.
Now he is turning his attention to fundraising and recruiting candidates for 2008. He expects the U.S. Senate and presidential races to draw substantial cash for Colorado Republicans.
Wadhams blames campaign finance reform for some of the party’s problems. “We have a process where candidates and parties are absolutely hamstrung while 527s and millionaires run rough- shod over the process,” he said. As to the party’s debt, he said he hopes to have it erased by the end of the year. As to rumors that the party might declare bankruptcy, Wadhams said: “Preposterous.”
Low and slow
Gov. Bill Ritter‘s deputy legislative director, Adrian Miller, knows a good barbecue when he tastes it. Miller is a certified barbecue judge and is planning a bash for the governor on the Western Slope later this summer.
For people planning a July 4 barbecue, Miller says there are three secrets to a scrumptious cookout: hickory wood, a good cut of meat lightly seasoned and lots of time – at least four hours. “It’s what people call low and slow,” said Miller, who grew up on Southern cooking. For people using charcoal or gas grills, Miller suggests keeping the hot coals or gas burners on one side and the meat on the “cold side.” Throw in a few wet wood chips inside a piece of tinfoil to create that smoky flavor, and voila. “We need to spread the barbecue gospel,” Miller laughed. “That’s gospel with a small ‘g.’ I don’t want my mom to get mad at me.”
Down and dirty
House GOP lawmakers will be knocking heads for a good cause in July when they hold a flag football fundraiser at Invesco Field at Mile High. The effort is aimed at regaining the majority. Democrats currently control both the House and the Senate.
Hosting the event will be Colorado House Minority Leader Mike May and other House Republicans. Individual/family tickets are going for $1,000 and sponsorship levels run from $5,000 to $15,000.
Sponsors will have their names and corporate logos displayed on the stadium scoreboard. Players will dress in the Broncos locker rooms and run onto the field through the corner tunnel, their images displayed on the JumboTron.
Democrats might want to get their cameras ready. Of course, they have to pay to watch – just like everyone else.
Educational TV behind bars
Who said prisoners don’t know better? Inmates at the state prison in Sterling finally got a PBS station on the prison’s televisions. Prison officials had received several “kites,” slang for requests, on the subject. Dianne Tramutola-Lawson of the inmate advocacy group Colorado CURE, said that “some prisoners want to watch educational TV and not the junk on many channels.”
No word on whether they’re watching morning cartoons.
Julia C. Martinez (jmartinez@denverpost.com) is a member of The Post’s editorial board.
