December 22, 2009 02:19 AM UTC

Take Me To Your Leader: Romanoff Hires Manager

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• by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE: The Romanoff campaign requests a correction:

To whom it may concern,

Regarding your blog post of Monday, Dec. 21, titled “Take Me To Your Leader: Romanoff Hires Manager,” you note that Bill Romjue is a registered lobbyist for the Missouri Biotechnology Association. In fact, Mr. Romjue has not worked for or lobbied on behalf of that company since September of 2004. We respectfully request you correct your post.

If you require written evidence from either the Missouri Biotechnology Association or the State of Missouri, we can provide that to you. Should you have any questions or concerns, please email me.

Sincerely,

John Schroyer

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John Schroyer

Communications Director, Romanoff for Colorado

We don’t dispute this clarification, and appreciate the feedback. It’s worth noting that the record we obtained from the Missouri Ethics Commission does not show an end date for his services (and there is a spot for it), though we have since found another record for Romjue which does indicate he stopped lobbying for this trade group in the fall of 2004. Original post follows.

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After months of bumbling, former House speaker Andrew Romanoff’s U.S. Senate campaign may have taken a step in the right direction with the hiring of a relatively experienced–if locally unknown–campaign manager. Bill Romjue managed presidential candidate Joe Biden’s ’08 Iowa operations, as well as the unsuccessful ’06 gubernatorial campaign of Dina Titus in Nevada (although in fairness to Romjue, he was a late replacement for a previous manager and didn’t join Titus until Labor Day 2006). Mr. Romjue is also the (former, see correction above) registered lobbyist for the Missouri Biotechnology Association, which we expect is good for an acerbic comment or two all by itself.

Here’s the bio from the Romanoff campaign email making the announcement:

Bill earned a Bronze Star in Vietnam, where he served in the U.S. Army. He brings more than 30 years of political experience, having organized more than a dozen statewide races around the country and played key roles in a host of national campaigns, including those of Joe Biden, Gary Hart, Bob Kerrey, and Jimmy Carter.  He also served as chief of staff to House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt.

Interesting that the campaign chose to highlight Romjue’s Vietnam War experience as the first item on his resume (does Romanoff think he needs the foreign policy credentials, or are they putting emphasis on getting veterans to support him?), but Romjue has been represented to us as experienced enough to run a campaign at the level of a U.S. Senate race. Which, of course, is a big boost for Romanoff after relying on Ken Gordon for (apparently very bad) advice since his last campaign manager quit.

Having to import a professional with basically no local connections highlights Romanoff’s credibility troubles among those who understand this race best. On the other hand, this is a sign that perhaps Romanoff is getting things together enough for a real race, because it’s hard to imagine that Romjue would uproot from Missouri just to lead a campaign that might sputter out in a few months.

Click below for the full announcement from Romanoff’s campaign:

I’m writing to share some exciting news.  I am putting Bill Romjue, a nationally respected political strategist and decorated veteran, at the top of our talented team.  I have enormous respect for Bill’s service to our country and his skill as a campaign manager, and I hope you will have a chance to meet him as well.

Bill earned a Bronze Star in Vietnam, where he served in the U.S. Army.  He brings more than 30 years of political experience, having organized more than a dozen statewide races around the country and played key roles in a host of national campaigns, including those of Joe Biden, Gary Hart, Bob Kerrey, and Jimmy Carter.  He also served as chief of staff to House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt.

Bill will lead a statewide operation that is growing stronger every day.  We’ve hosted 75 house parties and added more than 700 donors in the past two weeks alone.  

Click here to show your support.  

Bill knows how Washington works – and he’s just as determined as I am to change it.  He rejects the “pay to play” system that allows powerful special-interest groups to bankroll Congress and block reform.

He shares the outrage so many of us feel as we watch one senator after another cut deals with the drug lobby, cave in to the insurance industry, and compromise the health of the American people.

It’s time to take a stand.

Bill and I believe that Coloradans – and all Americans – deserve better.

We deserve the best Senate that money can’t buy.

Click here to join our fight.