December 01, 2007 01:04 AM UTC

More Bad News for Polis

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• by: Colorado Pols

We said when the trip was first announced that visiting Iraq was a good strategic move for Jared Polis. But the entire trip could end up being more of a negative than a positive as the United Way runs away from him (which may have been why a reported campaign ad was pulled before it could run).

From The Denver Post:

The Mile High United Way has disassociated itself from Jared Polis’ Thanksgiving trip to Iraq and insists its executive vice president used vacation days for the week he spent in the Middle East with the Democratic congressional candidate.

“It’s inconceivable to me that we would knowingly walk into a situation where we were seen as participating in a candidate’s trip,” Paul Franke, chairman of the United Way’s board of trustees, said Thursday. “It was not a United Way-sponsored trip.”

A campaign news release sent the day before Polis left for Iraq said he would travel “as a supporter of the United Way’s efforts to assist in the development of Iraqi nonprofit and humanitarian organizations.”

Polis campaign manager Wanda James said Thursday that the United Way did not “in any way organize or pay for the trip.” Polis, a multimillionaire Internet entrepreneur, went as a “potential donor to see the projects in the region for himself,” she said.

The trip sparked a firestorm of criticism from his opponents, who called it a campaign stunt in disguise.

Polis, who is vying against two fellow Democrats to replace U.S. Rep. Mark Udall, paid for the trip for himself and United Way executive vice president Rich Audsley.

The Boulder Democrat has not said how much the trip cost, only that his attorney will sort out what he needs to disclose publicly on his next campaign finance report…

…At a town-hall meeting Wednesday night, Polis said he went to Iraq “with the United Way Denver chapter” to work on “building ties between Iraqis” and relief agencies.

United Way board member Ric Padilla said the board recently received a “clarification document” from Mile High United Way “that the trip was indeed a personal one and not sanctioned” by the organization. Another board member, Xcel Energy executive Roy Palmer, said through a spokesman that Audsley “did this as a private citizen on vacation time.”