The former campaign manager for Gov. Bill Ritter incorrectly used inaugural funds to pay off more than $200,000 in campaign debt and put $83,000 into his pocket, the governor’s office said Tuesday.
Ritter’s campaign committee has taken out a $200,000 loan — using the governor’s house as collateral — following the discovery that campaign expenses were paid with funds intended for his January 2007 inauguration events.
The loan allowed Ritter to repay the inaugural committee, but the governor said he will have to start raising money to pay off what was borrowed.
“I’m extremely disappointed that this took place,” the Democratic governor said Tuesday of the financial mess.
The financial discrepancies were discovered as the inaugural committee’s accountant prepared tax records in February. That discovery prompted Ritter to ask an outside accounting firm to investigate.
The firm reported that $217,164 in campaign expenses were paid with inaugural money and that Greg Kolomitz, Ritter’s campaign manager and the head of his inaugural committee, overpaid himself $83,250.
Kolomitz subsequently repaid that amount to the inaugural committee.
“Greg was the signer on the account,” Ritter said, “and all of the checks in question relating to the campaign expenses and the overpayment were all checks that he wrote and that he signed.”
Ritter said he would turn over the accounting firm’s report and other information to the Denver district attorney’s office, state Attorney General John Suthers and Secretary of State Mike Coffman. Those authorities would have to decide whether legal action is warranted, he said.
Kolomitz, a Denver-based political consultant, apologized for causing Ritter trouble but declined to give specifics about the misuse of funds.
“Used poor judgment”
“I concede to having used poor judgment in the use of that inaugural committee for the campaign account,” Kolomitz said. “When the issue over the overpayment of those funds was raised, I immediately volunteered to return the funds. I’ll continue to cooperate with the governor’s office to fully resolve any outstanding matters.”
Ritter spokesman Evan Dreyer said Kolomitz’s misuse of funds was a violation of Colorado campaign finance law. “Expenses incurred by a political campaign committee must be paid by that political campaign committee,” he said.
Ritter said he considered Kolomitz a friend, a fact that made his disappointment “extreme.”
“I placed a lot of trust in Greg,” Ritter said, adding that he would no longer use Kolomitz in his campaigns.
Another lesson, Ritter said, is that “it is important to have multiple layers of scrutiny” over finances.
Ritter alerted Coffman to the misspent funds shortly before telling the news media Tuesday afternoon.
“No doubt the governor has covered all his bases by giving it to the secretary of state, the attorney general and the (Denver) DA,” Coffman said. “Politically, it helps him a lot that he took the initiative to make this public on his own.”
It’s unclear whether Coffman can initiate a probe into Ritter’s campaign finances without a formal complaint, the typical start of an investigation.
Suthers spokesman Nate Strauch said the attorney general’s office would not be a starting point for any legal case arising out of the misuse of the funds.
“At first blush, it appears the Denver district attorney or the secretary of state’s office are likely the authorities who would have jurisdiction over this,” Strauch said.
He said cases involving misuse of funds would be handled by the district attorney and campaign-finance violations are handled by the secretary of state.
Lynn Kimbrough, spokeswoman for the Denver district attorney’s office, said the agency would bow out of the case.
“Because the governor is the former DA here, we are expecting we will ask a neighboring jurisdiction to review the matter,” Kimbrough said. “Even as early as tomorrow, it’s possible that request could be made.”
With the loan proceeds and the money Kolomitz paid back, Ritter’s inaugural committee now has nearly $290,000. The governor said he did not know how he would use the money.
Ritter’s $1 million inaugural
Ritter’s $1 million inaugural in 2007 featured events stretching over more than a week, including dinners at a downtown Denver hotel and the Colorado Convention Center, a concert by country singer Jessie Colter, a whistle-stop train tour along the Front Range and a statewide fly-around with Lt. Gov. Barbara O’Brien.
“The people of this state were very excited about the fact that I’d been elected, that we had had a campaign that had covered the state,” Ritter said. “We wanted to go back to those places and thank people and let them participate.”
Ritter’s inaugural committee raised $1.1 million in private donations that came from unions, corporations, smaller businesses and individuals. Some donations, such as one from Qwest, were as much as $25,000.
In December 2006, The Denver Post reported that a group of business leaders led by William Mutch of Colorado Concern had raised about $200,000 to pay off Ritter’s remaining campaign debts, which were estimated at $250,000.
