Denver City Council hopefuls round up dollars as fundraising period ends

Denver City Council candidate Halisi Vinson spoke about helping those in need as an inspiration for running in the May election during a fundraiser on December 27, 2014. A supporter hosted Vinson’s event at her southeast Denver home. (Jon Murray, The Denver Post)

The title of Denver City Council candidate Halisi Vinson’s fundraiser — “Tired of Turkey Southern Stew Celebration” — said plenty about the donor fatigue faced by 2015 hopefuls as the first key fundraising deadline approaches Wednesday.

Not only are people tired from the crush of holiday events in recent weeks, many political donors in Denver are feeling tapped out from the slew of hot races that dominated Colorado’s recent election, ending only last month.

So Vinson tried to entice supporters to show up — and open up their checkbooks — with the lure of homemade gumbo, made with her family’s fourth-generation recipe. She also served other southern stews.

It worked. Supporter Jan Tyler’s home in southeast Denver was packed for a couple hours Saturday afternoon for an event that solicited $50 from guests for Vinson’s campaign and $100 to $300 each from hosts and other supporters.

Vinson, a marketing consultant and secretary of the Democratic Party of Denver, is among at least 39 candidates who have filed initial paperwork to run for the council in the May 5 election. Six of the 13 council seats won’t have incumbents seeking re-election, promising the highest turnover in more than a decade.

| December 29, 2014, 10:41 am

For Rep. Mike Coffman’s campaign manager, it’s been a whirlwind year

Kelsie Hower and Tyler Sandberg, another Colorado power couple. (Sandberg photo)

Kelsie Hower and Tyler Sandberg, another Colorado political couple. (Sandberg photo)

It’s been a wild year for Tyler Sandberg, who managed Mike Coffman’s successful re-election bid and got engaged to a woman he met on the campaign trail.

Next year promises to to be just as interesting. Sandberg is moving to Washington, D.C., to serve as deputy chief of staff for Coffman, an Aurora Republican whose margin of victory blindsided Democrats. And he and Kelsie Hower are to be married on July 4 in Colorado Springs. He proposed in Bali, where the couple vacationed after the election.

Sandberg announced the news in an e-mail titled: “A match made in #COpolitics heaven.” “Proposed to Kelsie last night in Bali at a private candlelit villa overlooking the jungle. She said yes!”

Reporters who regularly interviewed Sandberg for the campaign joked about whether Hower understood the proposal. That’s because he talks so fast at times he sounds like a tape recording on fast forward. “Kelsie has learned to speak Sandberg,” was his response.

Hower, who works for The Starboard Group, served as Cynthia Coffman’s finance director in her successful race for attorney general. It was natural that Hower and Sandberg would meet; Mike and Cynthia Coffman are married to each other.

Hower also is moving to D.C. and will operate out of Starboard’s office there. The couple leaves for Washington on Tuesday.

Categories: 2014 Colorado Attorney General Election, 2014 Congressional Races, Colorado Politics, U.S. House

| December 26, 2014, 3:27 pm

Denver has $1M waiting to be claimed by former owners of foreclosed homes

Denver’s public trustee is looking for former homeowners who haven’t claimed a combined $1 million they’re owed.

The money comes from proceeds at foreclosure auctions above the amount owed to lenders by the former homeowners. The clerk and recorder’s office says it has amounts set aside from overbids that ranged from as little as $25 to as much as $240,000 in one case.

Call it a sign of the improving economy, said William Porter, a spokesman for the clerk’s office. The city has passed on $2.5 million from overbids this year, or $1.1 million more than last year, as bidders ratchet up the prices for foreclosed homes at auction.

But the office hasn’t been able to track down the recipients of $1 million in overbids from recent years through phone calls, letters and other efforts, Porter said.

Categories: Denver City Hall

| December 25, 2014, 10:37 am

Congressman Ed Perlmutter says happy holidays

Happy holidays from the king of Colorado retail politics, Rep. Ed Perlmutter, who hasn’t come close to being beat since he first was elected to Congress in 2006.

Congressman Ed Perlmutter and his wife Nancy, of Golden.

Categories: 2014 Congressional Races, Colorado Politics, U.S. House

| December 24, 2014, 10:53 pm

Gov. John Hickenlooper’s holiday greetings

Gov. John Hickenlooper, his son Teddy and their dog Sky in their 2014 Christmas card.

Gov. John Hickenlooper, his son Teddy and their dog Sky in their 2014 holiday card.

An old car, a dog and a boy — this might be Gov. John Hickenlooper’s best holiday card yet.

The card features his son Teddy, the star of Hickenlooper’s best re-election campaign ad in 2014.

Gov. Hickenlooper wants you to go green.

Categories: 2014 Colorado Governor's Race, Colorado Government, Colorado Politics, Gov. John Hickenlooper

| December 24, 2014, 2:51 pm

ProgressNow political chief offers Scott Gessler seasonal greetings with a twist

ProgressNow Colorado political director Alan Franklin bids bon voyage and recalls auld lang syne for Republican Secretary of State Scott Gessler.

It’s the thought that counts.

Each year Alan Franklin, the personable political director of the leading liberal group ProgressNow Colorado, keeps Republican Secretary of State Scott Gessler in his thoughts during the holidays. In each of the last three years, he’s penned his special wishes on a card he sends to Gessler, a former private practice lawyer who usually represented Republican interests. Gessler ran for governor this year instead of re-election, and in January he will back in the private sector.

So Franklin signed his Christmas card citing Gessler’s nickname: “Buh-Bye, Honey Badger!” Then he extended the courtesy to Gessler’s deputy secretary of state, Suzanne Staiert, as well.

Last year Gessler was planning to run for governor, but in June he finished third in the GOP primary. Franklin wrote, “Sending next year’s card to the Governor’s Mansion.” Ah, that’s nice. But wait for it. “Hopefully they’ll forward it to you.” Zing.

| December 24, 2014, 10:07 am

Congressman Doug Lamborn says “Merry Christmas”

Kudos to Colorado Springs Congressman Doug Lamborn, who quotes from “It’s a Wonderful Life” in his Christmas card this year.

“Strange isn’t it?” Clarence asks in the holiday movie classic. “Each man’s life touches so many others. When he isn’t around he leaves an awful hole … No man is a failure who has friends.”

U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn’s holiday card.

Categories: Colorado Politics, U.S. House

| December 23, 2014, 5:27 pm

Outgoing Sen. Mark Udall says thanks and happy holidays

Outgoing U.S. Sen. Mark Udall’s holiday card this year is also a thank-you card for “all the support, hard work, care and love” extended to him and his family during his 18 years of public service.

“It has been a privilege and an honor to serve the State of Colorado and our country,” Udall wrote.

Udall, a Democrat, lost his re-election bid to Republican Congressman Cory Gardner, who takes office on Jan. 6.

Happy holidays from U.S. Sen. Mark Udall and his family.

Categories: 2014 U.S. Senate election, Colorado Politics, U.S. Senate

| December 20, 2014, 10:34 pm

Why Gov. John Hickenlooper doesn’t, and probably still won’t, wear a tie

Gov. John Hickenlooper in a file photo. (Lewis Geyer/Times-Call)

Gov. John Hickenlooper attended a Denver civic forum last week and wore a tie.

The notoriously casual Democrat’s dressy choice didn’t go unnoticed. “I just want to tell the governor that if I would have known he was going to rent a tie, I would have rented one too,” a man in the audience said to laughter during a question-and-answer session.

Is Hickenlooper getting more formal for his second term? (After all, he does have a new lady to impress.)

Well, maybe, but not really. The man’s comment at the Denver Forum allowed Hickenlooper to tell the story about how he made his no-tie pledge for his first term.

Categories: Colorado Politics, Gov. John Hickenlooper

| December 19, 2014, 5:13 pm

Gov. John Hickenlooper says he has a girlfriend

Robin Pringle, center, at the 2011 Children’s Museum Birthday Bash. (Steve Peterson, Special to The Denver Post)

In addition to hearing the traditional “Merry Christmas” or “happy holidays,” guests at Gov. John Hickenlooper’s annual yuletide gathering got a bit of a surprise: he’s got girlfriend.

While Hickenlooper made no formal announcement at the Wednesday cocktail party held in the Governor’s Mansion, several of the guests were quick to let The Denver Post know that the governor had introduced Robin Pringle to them as his girlfriend.

“As they say, good news travels fast,” he responded to our request for confirmation. “Yes, I have been dating a young woman named Robin Pringle. We met more than a year ago, but only started dating some months ago, almost, as sometimes happens, by accident.”

Read the full scoop on Hickenlooper’s girlfriend here.

Categories: Gov. John Hickenlooper, Uncategorized

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