One candidate went bankrupt just before he turned 30.
Another very publicly lost part of his life savings when an investment fund tanked.
The third has suffered some bumps in the road to building a restaurant empire.
All three men vying for their chance to run Colorado — and deal with the $1 billion budget shortfall for next year that comes with it — have faced their own financial setbacks.
And each says his experience would help him in the Governor’s Residence.
Bankruptcy, foreclosure
In the wake of his 1988 divorce, Republican gubernatorial nominee Dan Maes was 29 and struggling to make ends meet.
His $84,000 Westminster condo was in the beginning stages of foreclosure, and creditors were calling on nearly $14,000 worth of unsecured loans and other debts.
It was just before he launched a sales career that would carry him through the next two decades.
He filed for personal bankruptcy in late 1989.
“It was financially impossible at the time to meet my obligations. So taking responsibility meant living with the results of my decisions and having to recover financially,” Maes said. “I liquidated everything but my home, a car and a bed. Seriously.”
In hindsight, he said he could have made more prudent spending decisions in his mid- to late 20s, but the experience has given him perspective on what the word “essential” means.
“I had to return back to that practical, simple lifestyle,” said Maes. “From a very simple, practical standpoint, the state must learn how to cut nonessentials and live on necessities.”
Retirement fund vanishes
Gubernatorial hopeful Tom Tancredo in 2009 lost nearly $1 million that he and his wife had set aside for their retirement.
The American Constitution Party candidate called it “a significant chunk of (their) life savings.”
He invested heavily in a hedge fund run by Boulder-based Agile Group that went belly up with the collapse of Lehman Bros. and because of its ties to Wall Street scammer Bernie Madoff.
He should have followed his gut and moved his retirement savings to a more stable account when he had the chance, he said. He twice trekked to Boulder to do just that.
The experience taught him what it means to spend sleepless nights worrying about money, though the former congressman acknowledged that with his home, two teachers pensions and other savings to rely on, he’s still luckier than most.
“I’ve got a lot of empathy for people suffering also, and of course you do what you can to try to deal with that,” Tancredo said.
He pointed out that he’s often been a risk-taker in his personal life, but said he’d remain more even-keeled in the governor’s office.
“I’m much more willing to risk things (personally), but you learn that that’s not something you’d want to do with the state’s resources,” he said. “The day after I’m elected I’m not going to go to Vegas.”
Entrepreneurial risks
Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper is well known for launching himself from unemployment to brewpub entrepreneurship in the late 1980s and through the turn of the millennium.
But not every venture has been successful.
The Democrat lost more than $100,000 after he backed a loan for three twentysomethings who wanted to open a restaurant in Cheyenne. That business, Rocky Mountain Brewing Co., eventually went bankrupt in 1997 and left Hickenlooper on the hook.
A troubled venture in Covington, Ky., sold for a loss that Hickenlooper characterized as “significant,” and he gave up his stake in another restaurant, Raccoon River Brewing Co, in Des Moines, Iowa, after business there flagged.
Those setbacks came up in Hickenlooper’s 2003 bid for mayor. At the time he said, “It’s from those that I’ve learned the most.”
Hickenlooper, founder of Wynkoop Brewing Co. and a number of other restaurants, said that out of 14 ventures, 11 have been profitable.
Some, very profitable. He sold his share of an Omaha company for almost $3 million, he said.
“It’s similar to oil and gas exploration. You focus relentlessly on how to reduce your risk,” Hickenlooper said.
As for the statehouse, he cited a number of lessons he’s learned through the ups and downs in the brewpub business, such as building teams that work well together.
“And that momentum matters in almost any initiative,” Hickenlooper said. “It’s one of the things that we learned in restaurants but served me well as mayor. We had a great transition process and tried to hit the ground running. With a restaurant, you have to open strong.”
Jessica Fender: 303-954-1244 or jfender@denverpost.com
