Paula Sandoval, the owner of Tamales by La Casita, opened the restaurant Sunday for a Democratic rally. With her is employee Paul Saragosa, her newphew, and Saragosa’s son, Xavier, 7. (Lynn Bartels, The Denver Post)
The late Paul Sandoval loved politics and could be counted on to host a variety of events at his restaurant, whether for his close friend Ken Salazar or Sen. Barack Obama’s Colorado team in 2008.
Rowdy Democrats, many wearing Broncos jerseys, jammed the north Denver restaurant to listen a slew of speakers tout the re-election bid of Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper and his lieutenant governor, Joe Garcia, who recounted being tapped as the running mate.
“I wondered why he wanted me. I had no political experience. I didn’t have a lot of rich friends,” he said. “It finally occurred to me that if you want to run statewide and you had a foreign-sounding like Hickenlooper he needed an all-American name like Garcia.”
That got a huge laugh.
Sandoval was a Democrat but he was a big believer in person, not party. He endorsed Republican Bruce Benson for governor in 1994 over Democratic Gov. Roy Romer. And in 2002, when Benson was the GOP party chairman, Benson asked for Sandoval’s help to elect Bob Beauprez to Congress. Beauprez won by 121 votes and now is challenging Hickenlooper for governor.
Sunday’s rally also featured Salazar, the former Interior secretary; former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa; and Colorado U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet.
Denver Mayor Michael Hancock noted that Paul Sandoval supported him in his 2011 mayoral bid, just as Sandoval had supported others in the room, including Salazar, who was elected attorney general in 1998 and U.S. senator in 2004.
“All of us are disciples of Paul Sandoval, God bless his soul,” Hancock said.
