Guv helps Romanoff repay campaign debt

By Charles Ashby
Tuesday, February 7, 2012

DENVER — Gov. John Hickenlooper was a supporter of U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet in his bid for the U.S. Senate two years ago.

So, it came as somewhat of a surprise Tuesday when Bennet’s Democratic primary opponent, former House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, emailed a letter to supporters from Hickenlooper asking people to help retire Romanoff’s $250,000 campaign debt.

In the letter, Hickenlooper said he gave Romanoff $2,400, the maximum allowed, and asks others to follow suit.

“Here’s a guy, a public servant for many years, why wouldn’t I want to help him get rid of his debt?” Hickenlooper said Tuesday in an interview from California, where he was speaking at an environmental conference.

“I supported his opponent, but that doesn’t mean I don’t respect all that he’s done for Colorado, ” the governor said.

In the waning days of the 2010 primary, Romanoff sold his home in Denver’s upscale Washington Park neighborhood to finance last-minute ads for his campaign.

It didn’t help. He lost the race 54 percent to 46 percent.

Romanoff isn’t the only Senate candidate from that year’s races to find himself in debt.

Grand Junction native Jane Norton, who lost a senatorial bid for the GOP nomination to Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck, owes about $473,000, according to her campaign’s latest Federal Election Commission filing.

Buck owes nothing.

And Bennet? He owes about $500,000.

Hickenlooper, however, hasn’t sent a similar letter on the senator’s behalf.

“He hasn’t asked me yet,” the governor said. “Hopefully, he won’t think of it.”