The former executive director of the Colorado Republican Party authorized the downloading of a massive e-mail list from the Republican National Committee in direct violation of a contract signed between the two entities.
Multiple sources say Mike Britt, who is now the campaign manager for gubernatorial candidate Josh Penry, paid someone $500 to manipulate the software being used by the national party and to put the names and e-mails of 160,000 Coloradans on a computer disc that remains in the state party's hands.
Britt, 30, was named to run Penry's campaign in August. He is a New Jersey native who worked for President George W. Bush in the White House and who was regional director for former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's 2008 campaign for President.
None of the sources say party chairman Dick Wadhams had any knowledge that the e-mail list was improperly obtained. That seems to be confirmed by internal e-mails seen by 9NEWS.
"I'm not going to get into deals made while I was at the State Party," Britt said in a phone conversation on Thursday morning. "I had an excellent relationship with the RNC and that continues to this day."
He refused to comment on paying someone to download the data...
Britt said in a text message to 9NEWS, the RNC list was not being used on the current Penry campaign.
