Bill Holen, a current Arapahoe County commissioner, greets then-presidential candidate John Kerry at Denver International Airport in 2004. (Denver Post file photo)
Democratic presidential candidate Martin O’Malley announced his list of top Colorado campaign leaders earlier this week and one endorsement stood out: Arapahoe County Commissioner Bill Holen.
The problem is that Holen is listed as a co-host for a Hillary Clinton event Nov. 12 in Aurora. The miscue highlights a small indication of how Clinton is working to consolidate support among Democratic activists.
Holen, a longtime O’Malley friend from their days working for former U.S. Sen. Gary Hart of Colorado, started out supporting the former Maryland governor’s presidential bid. Holen has given O’Malley money and attended campaign events in Colorado and Washington, D.C. for the campaign.
O’Malley is “a great guy and has a great future in the Democratic Party — he’s the Gary Hart of the 21st century,” Holen told The Denver Post this week.
But just recently, Holen said he switch to support Clinton after the former secretary of state assuaged his initial fears.
“I had concerns about Hillary and the attacks she’s been getting … but the Benghazi hearings just turned me around,” said Holen, who about the hearings. “The primary reason is that now as Democrats we have to coalesce behind a candidate who can win and Hillary is that person.”
Holen served as Hart’s driver in his 1974 U.S. Senate bid and served as a military adviser, pulling on his service in the Vietnam War. He worked for Hart for 12 years and served as O’Malley’s boss when O’Malley interned on the senator’s 1984 presidential campaign.
He dismisses concerns about Clinton’s email controversy, calling it a “childish gotcha kind of government.”
“I don’t think that’s an issue,” he said. “The issue is leadership.”
Holen said he asked O’Malley’s campaign to remove him from their list. In a statement, an O’Malley spokeswoman said it would do so.
“Gov. O’Malley and Bill Holen are old friends going back to their work on the Hart campaign, and we appreciate his willingness to co-host an events for our campaign as well,” said spokeswoman Haley Morris. “If Commissioner Holen believes we miscommunicated his support, then we will of course take him off the list.”
Hart is endorsing O’Malley. Others backing the campaign include former Denver City Council member Sue Casey; former state Sen. and state House Democratic leader ; and party activists Tom Hogg and Hal Haddon.
