February 09, 2010 10:58 PM UTC

It's Good To Be Rich Like Jared

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• by: Colorado Pols

In all the occasions we’ve leveled criticism at freshman Rep. Jared Polis, which our regular readers know is a number of occasions, we’ve not gone so far as to seriously consider his political career threatened. And there’s a simple enough reason for that, the Denver Post reports:

During his first year in Congress, Boulder’s Jared Polis showed he could raise money like a House veteran, writing checks for fellow freshmen representatives at a rate that rivals the fundraising clout of even Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Polis’ political committee last year doled out more than $400,000 to Democratic members of Congress in swing districts and national political campaign groups…

Much of the money came from Polis’ family and a business associate, accounting for about $316,000 for the year. But Polis branched out during the second half of the year to other donors.

California conservationist Ivan Gayler gave $50,000 to the Polis committee, and a variety of other donors contributed about $80,000.

And the fact is, there’s not a thing wrong with fabulously wealthy Polis spreading his coin. If anything, you might say that prodigiously helping his fellow Democrats makes up for at least some of his first-term errors. As we’ve been clear about all along, Polis would be at greater risk of a primary challenge than he is if it weren’t for his great wealth–but with it, and with so many colleagues ingratiated by his largesse, he’s a Congressman for as long as he wants to be.

Lucky for him, right? He’s got one half of his desired leadership trajectory sewn up, all he needs now is a more constructive approach to the other half.