Vice President Dick Cheney zipped through Denver on Thursday as part of a fundraising tour intended to boost state Republican Party coffers.
Cheney, accompanied by his wife, Lynne, touched down at Denver International Airport at 3:50 p.m., about 10 minutes ahead of schedule.
The vice president’s motorcade then made its way downtown, where Cheney addressed a group that was expected to be about 20 people at the offices of the Benson Mineral Group, which is headed by businessman and former state GOP chairman Bruce Benson.
Benson anticipated the private event would raise “hundreds of thousands” of dollars.
State GOP chairman Dick Wadhams said the money would be spent on get-out-the-vote efforts and research surrounding the presidential election, and federal and state-legislature races.
The vice president’s visit hampered rush-hour traffic in some places as cars, buses and trains were stopped for 20 minutes around the intersections Cheney was expected to cross.
Cheney’s visit also forced some downtown workers to leave their buildings two hours early.
Lawyer Don Alperstein said that at 3:15 p.m., employees in the Colorado State Bank Building were given 30 minutes to leave the building or be forced into an indefinite period of “lockdown” inside. He was the only one on his floor who stayed, he said.
“I have business to do; I can’t leave,” Alperstein said. “This is not government business. They caused untold chaos for a fundraiser?”
Cheney has fundraising stops today in Wyoming and Utah, according to a schedule released by his office.
