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April 27, 2006 08:00 AM UTC

Holtzman Campaign Still Questioned Over Ref. C&D

  • 52 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

Secretary of State Gigi Dennis declined to get involved in this issue once before, when Bob Beauprez’s campaign asked for an opinion, but Beauprez was clever to keep this going and to find a way to get a hearing before the state assembly.

From The Denver Post:

Republican Marc Holtzman broke campaign finance laws by using an anti-Referendum C committee as a shadow gubernatorial campaign, a lawyer argued Wednesday. The allegations came at the opening of a legal proceeding that could ultimately reshape the state’s campaign laws.

Republican Steve Durham, a lobbyist, filed a complaint with the secretary of state’s office last month alleging Holtzman and his campaign were inextricably linked with the “If C Wins, You Lose” group in violation of state laws. Holtzman’s campaign admits working with the group but says it did nothing wrong.

At issue is how much coordination and control is permitted between issue and political committees and candidate campaigns. Political committees are not bound by the same stringent fundraising limits as candidate campaigns. The case before an administrative law judge could ultimately clarify whether and how such groups can work together…

…Dick Leggitt, campaign manager for Holtzman, didn’t deny that the campaign tried to help the committee, as well as others opposed to Referendums C and D. “But we maintain we didn’t do anything wrong. We didn’t control them,” he said after the administrative law hearing.

Holtzman, the state’s former secretary of technology, is expected to testify today.

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Comments

52 thoughts on “Holtzman Campaign Still Questioned Over Ref. C&D

  1. Steve Durham, one of Colorado’s Original Crazies from the 1980’s is supporting Beauprez?  WOW. Imagine that!!!  Maybe someone should investigate Mr. durham and his antics over the past several years.  Such as hiring elected officials as consultants for the HBA Industry to keep them on the payrollwhen the legislature is not in session.  Can we say “Conflicts of Interest?”

    Better yet.  How about elected officials serving as political consultants to other elected officials under the guize of fictituous companies?  Seems to me that if a candidate pays another candidate $10,000.00 for consulting services, that is an attempt to skirt the Colorado campaign laws.  Especially when they use the name of a company that does not exist on Colorado records.  Look to the House.  Look to the House.

    Worse yet.  If Candidate A receives $10,000 for services under an NON-Registered Trade Name or company, they are probably not paying taxes on those funds either.

    One need only go back a few years to find one elected official did this favor for another.  The same person received funds from the HBA as a consultant.  Look to the House.  Look to the House.

    HMMMM. Now where’s this TALL GRASS?

    How about an employee of the HBA receiving funds for consulting services and not registering either their personal name or trade name with the Department of Revenue or Secretary of State?  Article 32 requires anyone doing business in Colorado either as a sole-proprietor, partner, or corporation to register.

  2. It is rumored that Gigi is going to be Beauprez’s Lt Guv candidate but that he won’t announce it until after the primary.

    She even verified this at the County Assembly>

    Come on Gigi, if this is true then you should resign.

    If you remember, Holtzman asked Beauprez to join him in the fight against C & D, but Both Ways Bob declined. And now he is complaining? At least Holtzman had the backbone and stood up for what he believed

  3. Thats old news MH!!!  Everyone knows the year was 2002…BS was running for re-election and paid a non-existant company $10,000 for consulting services.  The address for the non-existant company according to campaign records is owned by BC (another elected official).  BC never owned the company, nor was it ever registered with the SofS or Dept of Revenue.

  4. How dare Holtzman stand up for what he believes in!  More importantly how dare Holtzman talk about issues!  This campaign isn’t about issues, its about Bob Beauprez.  Doesn’t Holtzman know this?  Beauprez is the chosen one, don’t make him take a stance or ask him to join you in the fight against C.  The state owes Beauprez!  No one was supposed to run against him, Bill Owens calls the shots not the people in the party.  We will teach that Holtzman guy that you are not allowed to have principles unless Bill Owens approves of them.

  5. There’s only one real Republican here, Marc Holtzman.  He will petition on to the ballot and then he will win.  There really isn’t an alternative for anyone who considers himself a conservative.

    If BB wins, we might as well elect Bill Riter.  They are both in the “tax & spend” mindset.  Who needs them?

  6. A serious question for all you Holtzman supporters:  on what evidence do you think MH has a chance of winning the primary?  Given that the vast majority of his money comes from either himself or out of state, he’s petitioning onto the ballot, his lieutenant governor pick faces the exact same both-ways charges he’s leveling at his opponent, and now he’s being accused of breaking campaign finance laws, where are any viable signs that there is meaningful voter support for MH?  I’m just wondering where Hippononymous’ (and others’) confidence comes from, when every possible indicator available in the mainstream press indicates a campaign heading for the dumper.  (And I’m a Dem, so don’t accuse me of being a Beauprez shill.)  If there were polls indicating the majority of Reps were MH fans, shouldn’t he be releasing them, like, right this second?

  7. Poindexter,

    How dare you question us, the humble followers of Marc “The Anointed One” Holtzman? We are right and you are wrong. Facts don’t matter! How dare you try to use logic with us!?! You say you are a Dem, but you are probably Bob himself! **Random personal attack.** Marc Rules!

  8. Lets see.  Wasn’t it conservative Bill Ownes who defeated Gale Schoetler?  Wasn’t Gale a Democrat?  Hmmm. Maybe if Mark Holtzman ran as a fiscal and social conservative (like Bill Owens did), maybe he would win.  If BB runs like a moderate, such a Bruce Benson did, the Democrats win.  I guess what we need then is a fiscal and social conservative in this race.

    Problem is that BB’ voting record isn’t fiscally conservative when he’s left of Mark Udall and Diana DeGette.  When he voted for 328 bill in the 108th Congress, and only said NO a whopping 7% of the time.  When his “YES” votes cost the taxpayers a total of $548 billion dollars and only voted for budget cuts of $11 billion (Can you say less than 2 tenths of a percent)!!!!!!

    Now theres some truth!!!!!

  9. Pointdexter,

    The Lt. Governor pick doesn’t matter at all–no voter will have a clue about Lola or Giga or whoever.  And you know that 70% of those who donated to Marc were from Colorado.  The few people who bother to go to the assemblies are nothing like most of Colorado voters, who will see that BB is not a Republican in any meaningful way once they begin to pay attention.  So all Marc has to do is get on the ballot and when the news coverage gets more intense and people start making up their minds, he’ll do fine.

    Besides, there’s no alternative, it’s Holtzman or Beaupritter, and I’m not voting dummycrat.

  10. I do know that the majority of donors in numbers were from Colorado, but given that BB is (barely) outraising MH in total dollars without his pop’s money or much from those outside of CO, doesn’t that kind of imply that way more people support BB than MH?  And again, you can’t tell me that MH hasn’t done a bunch of polls, since the campaign’s not short of cash.  Wouldn’t he be releasing them if they showed him even competitive with BB?  I’m asking for evidence here.

    And Anonymous (to give your response a fair shake), I remember that Bill Owens barely beat Gail Schoettler (the election was so closer we didn’t even know the winner the next day), and that was before TABOR and the recession had pulled a number on the state economy.  I don’t know that that’s a useful historical comparison.

  11. Yeah, once the news coverage gets going, people will love Marc. Especially the part about violating campaing finance laws. And 70% of the people ain’t great when you don’t even have 700 total donors. They’ll also love the news about him not even being confident enough to commit to going to the state convention–the same state convention the Holtzmanites were claiming were going to support them because delegates are the true conservatives, right after the caucuses. Now you say they aren’t the conservatives. Talk about wanting it both ways.

  12. “…the Holtzmanites were claiming were going to support…”

    Sorry, should read: “…the Holtzmanites were claiming WAS going to support…”

  13. Hey Poindexter, get your facts straight.  Owens defeated Schoettler by 7999 votes.  TABOR was passed in 1992.  Bill Owen’s was elected in 1998.

    Christ, when did you get here, yesterday?  Wonder just how many Californicators are supporting BB?

  14. Probably as many Eastern Seaboard residents are supporting The Anointed One, huh anonymous. Too bad they can’t vote here in Colorado like those damn people who aren’t natively born here and make up a majority of the state’s population…or can they? I must go talk to Dick about this! I may have found a way to make this close! Extra Kool-aid for me tonight!

  15. Yea, Voice of Reason, voters will love BB when they find out just how he voted in Congress.  Wasn’t it D failed, and C nearly failed? Less than 1%?  Hmm. I guess it is all about money isn’t it.

    Can you say $548 BILLION during one session of Congress.

    Look at just how many of the supporters of C and D are supporting BB.  That would be an interesting analysis.  Lets’ take the C and D supporters, Owens et al, and compare them to the BB supporters.  Now that will be interesting.

    Can you say hypocrite? Liar? Or is the politically correct term these days still POLITICIAN?

  16. Seriously, I mean, living here for the majority of your life-time doesn’t mean anything when it comes to running for the top seat in the state, why should it matter for voting purposes?

    All hail Holtzman!

  17. Umm, anonymous, given that in 2000 there were 4.3 million people living in CO (I can’t find 1998 data in a flash so this will have to do), that makes Bill Owens’ margin of victory — under one-fifth of one percent.  Wow, what a landslide!  Talk about your misplaced facts.

    And  yes, TABOR was passed before he was elected; you’ll note there was an “and” in my sentence (as in “TABOR *AND THE RECESSION*”).  The recession, as you no doubt get tired of being told by Democrats, only began after the current President took office  (and, as the syntax of my sentence, makes clear, AFTER Bill Owens beat Gail Schoettler). Ahem.  So it’s still not a valid historical comparison.

    But no hurry on that pesky evidence of support for Marc Holtzman.  I can wait.

  18. Thanks for refuting my point…oh wait. You didn’t.

    I’d love to see where you are getting your “facts” also. Please post your citings. I’d also like to know how much of the money is going toward Republican sponsered bills, such as for the Iraq war and Medicare/Medicaid. Thanks. But nevermind, you don’t care about the Republican Party, you just want them to call your candidate their state leader at the same time you trash them and skip out on the assembly. Smart.

    Beauprez came out against C & D as well (read the Rocky Mountain News comparison of the candidates from 4 or 5 weeks ago), he just didn’t use a phoney campaign-shell set up against it to get himself publicity for the gubernatorial race. Which was a great tactic, as we are seeing now…

  19. Holtzman is limping badly.
    To spend one entire year full time working potential delegates and than find yourself with under 30%. A pity if Holtzman was not such a joke.
    I keep hearing how great the Holtzman team is.
    Than they make amateurish mistakes. Holtzman may not even make the ballot

  20. I saw this in the Rocky.  Way to go Andy.  (Too bad you are now damaged goods and no one will want to touch you with a ten foot pole)

    Andy George, an ex-staffer for the cmte that ran TV ads opposing Ref C in ’05, testified in court 4/26 that staffers from ex-Univ of Denver pres Marc Holtzman’s (R) campaign “were directly involved in running the group,” a violation of CO campaign finance law. The group, “If C wins, you lose,” paid for “an ad blitz that featured Holtzman criticizing the referendum, but made no mention of his” GOV bid. George, though, said Holtzman’s manager, Dick Leggitt, hired him in the summer of ’05, and made it clear that the cmte was part of the campaign. George: “He said we were going to raise a whole bunch of money and beat up on” Gov. Bill Owens (R).

  21. I fail to see any proof anywhere that mh doesn’t have his 30. I live in jeffco and even here, in bob’s backyard, mh has at least 40.  does anyone here ever go out and talk to the activists? I’m starting to think you are all just paid hacks who have no clue about what’s really going on in the world.  I love most of you guys, but jeez, get out more.

  22. If Holtzman is out of the race, you can kiss the governorship goodbye.  BB will not win against Ritter.  Many Pro-life conservatives have indicated they will stay home. Law enforcement people like Ritter, not BB.

    So that means all of you Owen’s guys should start looking for work come January 2007.  Better get those resumes polished up, BB is toast and just doesn’t know it. AKA Pete Coors.

  23. Yes, Rebelrep, we should trust you over anyone else. Except for the numbers you quote are incorrect (I too live in JeffCo and am very active), and you have proven yourself to be just as big a Holtzmanite as anyone else. And, damnit, wheres Iron Mike??

  24. Anonymous, I don’t quite get your logic. You say A, “if Holtzman is out of the race, you can kiss the governorship goodbye.” and then say B, “BB will not win against Ritter.”

    You are implying that the weakest candidate, Holtzman, would beat the strongest candidate, Ritter. 

    That dosen’t make any sense at all.

  25. Ask Marc if he will have his name placed into nomination at the State Republican Convention?
    You will not receive a straight answer.
    Leggitt and Holtzman can count.
    The social conservative wing of the party is lined up solidly behind Holtzman. Every significant Republican activist in the State supports Beauprez.

  26. It makes perfect sense.  Several days ago MrHandy2001 provided an illustration.  It wnet like this.  In the early 1980’s there were six Congressional seats in Colorado.  The seats were evenly split between both parties.  Each party had three seats.  The legislature was controlled by the Republicans, and the Governorship by the Democrats.

    There were two U.S. Senators, Bill Armstrong (Republican) and Gary Hard (Democrat).

    The REpublican Party adopted a philisophy that if they could put forth a candidate that was more moderate, then people would vote REpublican and not Democrat.  This strategy, as shown by Bruce Benson’s loss to Romer, proved positive.  It doesn’t work.

    In 1998, bill Owen’s ran on a strong fiscal and social conservative platform.  He was successful, even if by a small margin.  the fact is this.  El Paso County is the largest, and fastest growing county in the state of Colorado.  El Paso County is predominantly conservative Republican.

    BB is not viewed as a strong social conservative to most people in El Paso County.  Just as they learned that Pete Coors had a boat load of baggage.  They either voted for Salazar or stayed at home.

    Because Ritter is well liked by law enforcement (conservative) and many of the pro-life conservatives have little objection to him, they may either vote for Ritter or stay at home.  If either happens, BB losses.

    Then again, you must have been around some time to understand the dynamics of Colorado politics.  To the average person, it doesn’t seem to make sense.

    The best analogy that Mr. Handy made was that the only thing in the middle of the road are dead skunks and white lines.  If BB were to select Gigi Dennis as his Lt. Gov. (85% NARAL approval rating), BB could most certainly kiss this race goodbye.  Pro-lifers will not accept a Gigi Dennis candidacy.  As well as the fact that she authored Senate Bill 153 that would have made the Petition Process almost non-existent. 

    That, and the fact that her CUT ratings (Colorado Union of Taxpayers) never eclipsed 50% during her tenure in the Senate.  El Paso County produced 35,000 additional votes for Owens in 1998 to overcome the liberal Denver/Boulder County votes.

    If you don’t stand for something, you stand for nothing.  Shades of Ref C and D.  BB was too busy to campaign either for or against Ref’s C and D.  However, baqsed upon his poor attendance records during Committee votes in Wahsington he must have been doping something.  Some of those Not Votings were the same votes cast by Tom Delay.  Maybe they were having lunch together or something.

    the bottom line…moderating ones political platform will not work.  Once people learn of BB’s horrible voting record in Congress, they will stay at home.  Again, BB loses.  He can say he is a principled conservative, or not.

    As MrHandy2001 has shown, BB voted for granting Social Security benefits to illegal aliens, voted against restrictions on the use of Consular Metricula cards, didn’t vote when it came to granting a Gold Medal to the Tuskegee Airmen, did not vote on the Republican sponsored “Immediate Withdrawal” from Iraq legislation, voted yes 93% of the time during the 98th Congress and only “NO” 7% out of 328 votes.  Voted in favor of only $11 billion in spending cuts, leading to spending increases over the next five years of $500+ billion dollars.

    This is not a CONSERVATIVE. Principled or however you want to disguise it.  Not to mention that the Vietnam Veterans do not like a Draft Dodger. Bill Clinton or otherwise.  El Paso County is not Boulder, Jeffco, Denver, or Pueblo.  Anyone who thinks that these things will not be brought to light down the road is badly mistaken, and politically nieve.

  27. P.S. : The latest poll showed both Ritter and Beauprez dead even and “Stuck in the Mud.”  Whereas, Holtzman had made the greatest gains against either Ritter and BB.  Let’s just keep it honest shall we?

  28. More like every significant Republican activist in the state has been threatened by Beauprez and his supporters. Sometimes it worked, but sometimes it didn’t. I guess we’ll see next month.

  29. Hey hilarous guy, that is probably closer to the truth than one might think. It is true that the BB people don’t say very much about Bob.  They talk about how he’s endorsed by so many people and how one’s record shouldn’t be used against them.

    They gloss over his military record by shouting how he has a record and Holtzman doesn’t.  They don’t talk about how he voted very much, nor do they talk about the Heritage Bank, the Golf Course, the military record (i.e. lack thereof), or anything truthful. 

    Which brings us to the Beauprez Campaign strategy – Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

    Wonder if there are any gays on the campaign staff?

  30. Hahaha! 

    Anonymous,

    The quote “the Beauprez Campaign strategy – Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was hilarious.  Of course everything that is funny has elements of truth in it.  Can I use that line?

    In the future I wouldn’t add “Wonder if there are any gays on the campaign staff?”  The the first quote speaks for itself.

  31. Bottom line
    Holtzman fought like mad to get the top line
    No top line
    No 30%
    No nothing
    a year of campaigning intended solely to get top line down the drain
    Add to that spending millions of dollars on campaign ads that were terrible and to likely be found to be in violation of the law and have to pay Scott Gessler a bunch of money not a good week
    Maybe Marc can do at the Administrative Hearings like he is doing with the State Convention. Take his marbles and go home

  32. I’m not a fan of Durham. Never really thought he was all that much and have always been turned off by his tactics. So a part of me isn’t surprised, but stil… I’m more than a little dissapointed in his willingness to open this particular little can of worms. Can anyone say “Trailhead”?  “CCC”? How about “IE”?  Durham might win this, but at the cost of every race this November.

  33. Durham vs. Rogers… Ah yes, now it comes back to me. How do you take out a popular, minority Lt.Gov who is challenging your client? Sue his pants off.

    They should have picked someone besides Andy George as their whistle blower though… I remember that guy from the Schaffer Campaign. Nice kid, but I thought he was the official campaign stalker for a while. Not the guy I would ask to hold my wallet if you know what I mean.

  34. I can’t recall details, but it was a Campaign Finance suit as well. It was filed in response to Joe having the SOS look into Bob’s “Heritage Bank” commercial. It just cut Joe off at the knees even though I want to say the suit was later dropped.

    Sorry, that’s all I remember… I was actually knee deep in Marilyn’s primary at the time and just cheering for O’Donnell in the 7th.

    Maybe Modus knows more.

  35. It was about Rogers using state funds to pass out candy at parades where he was wearing a t-shirt in support of his candidacy for CD7.  No kidding. Candy at parades. Durham lost and cited his inadequacies as an attorney (he represented himself).  Case went on for two years and cost Joe 600k. For allegations that were around 2k.

  36. Rogers didn’t spend nearly that amount, but Durham and Beauprez successfully used a lot of Rogers’ money, time, and energy with their frivolous campaign-finance complaint. In the end, the FEC didn’t even fine Rogers, his campaign committee, or any other person or organization involved in the complaint. This is Durham doing Beauprez’s dirty work, as usual.

  37. Lynn Bartles would LOVE THIS spin; Durham suing every opponent Beauprez has ever had. Where is she and why isn’t she writting this story? Is she in Hawaii again?  AGGHHH!!!! For the love of God, where is LYNN!

  38. […] Whatever the decision in the election lawВ litigation that provided the venue,В this disclosureВ is devastating for the Holtzman campaign. Most Republicans wouldn’t have quibbled over money spent fighting an initiative they opposed anyway — butВ going on record thatВ the favorable poll numbersВ Holtzman’s camp bandied aboutВ were fictional is a serious problem. […]

  39. Dick Leggitt did more damage with his stupid statements than Andy George can do with his cred problem.

    Why, Dick? For a big media guy that was D-U-M, dumb!

  40. […] Republican Marc Holtzman’s campaign has reportedly been found guilty of coordination for the “If C Wins, You Lose” committee and fined a small amount. The campaign is holding a press conference at 3:00 p.m. […]

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