NYT: Bennet Helped Future Wall Street PAC Contributors Fleece Denver Schools

[harvey007]

Source: The Huffington Post

"In a massive and well-researched story, the New York Times tonight dealt the potential death-blow to Sen. Michael Bennet's already-struggling campaign for reelection."

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-sirota/nyt-unloads-devastating-s_b_672801.html

[Jefferson23]

1. No conscience, no nothing, pure scum.

"Since it struck the deal, the school system has paid $115 million in interest and other fees (to JPMorgan), at least $25 million more than it originally anticipated...to unwind it all, the schools would have to pay the banks $81 million in termination fees, or about 19 percent of its $420 million payroll...
(Bennet and DPS chief Boasberg) say that it has saved the school district $20 million it would have otherwise had to pay to cover the pension shortfall...But the savings cited by the two men do not take into account termination fees associated with the complex deal. And had the school district issued fixed-rate debt, Wall Street would not have received the cornucopia of fees embedded in the more complex deal...

From the campaign trail in mid-July, Mr. Bennet reiterated his support of the deal..."

[Alcibiades]

2. He will join an elite club

Senators who were appointed and who lost their reelection bids. Hope this is not too costly, but with dems like him, who needs Republicans?

[mbperrin]

3. Yes, it's hard to think that there was not one single other person in the whole

state who could have been appointed.

[Alcibiades]

4. And the whole mess began with the appointment of Salazar

You just knew that raiding the Senate and governors' offices wouldn't be cost-free. Yes, these folks were easily confirmed, but they had a track record of winning statewide office, something some of their replacements have not had.

[Jefferson23]

12. My thoughts exactly. n/t

[sofa king]

5. He shall not be missed.

I am sure he will be welcomed in other circles, though.

[frontrange]

9. The Anschutz Investment Co. is calling

They can always use Michael Bennet in their corporate raiding department.

[niyad]

6. remind me to call the denver post and tell them what I think of them endorsing him

--and calling out romanoff for pointing this stuff out (of course, I still haven't forgiven them for endorsing georgie in 2004)

[Hawkeye-X]

7. I knew Michael Bennet was scum from the moment he was appointed

by his lame duck one-term Governor by the name of Bill Ritter.

He has destroyed DPS infrastructure

He has destroyed and stolen $11m of the DPS teacher retirement funds.

I have NO confidence in him and I said so on my ballot that I mailed last week.

Hawkeye-X

[Robb]

11. This will not help Romanoff. It will only help Ken Buck, the GOP candidate.

Democrats will buy the "no one could have predicted the economic downturn" line, and Bennet will still win the primary. But going into the election, Bennet will lose a lot of fiscally-conservative, socially-liberal voters to Buck -- who can now argue Bennet's financial acumen is flawed because he didn't predict the downturn.

And Colorado goes red again, thanks to some excellent triangulation. You read it here first.

[paulk]

13. spoken like a true Bennet supporter

and absolute nonsense

"socially liberal" voters are going to vote for Buck - the guy who recently declared that he opposed abortion even in the case of rape or incest?

[Hawkeye-X]

18. Hey, I'll bet you $100 that Romanoff wins the whole thing

And the $100 goes towards the post-election fund for Romanoff.

If I lose, I'll donate $100 to Bennet

Fair enough?

[carincross]

8. ... and the article only covers the surface

Ms. Morgenson's article (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/06/business/06denver.html?_r=2&hp=&pagewanted=all) only covers the surface. Beginning in January, 2010 DPS became part of the state pension system. So these financial fiascoes have put the entire state pension system at risk. More information on this is available from Christopher Scott's articles in the Huffington Post. (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/christopher-scott)

[frontrange]

10. Denver CBS Says This "Will Hurt Bennet's Hopes"

"With only a few days left before Colorado's primary election, the New York Times has printed an article that may shake things up a bit in the Democratic race.

The article "Exotic Deals Put Denver Schools Deeper in Debt" goes into depth explaining how a financial move Sen. Michael Bennet pushed through in 2008 when he was the superintendent of Denver Public Schools has yielded negative financial results for the district."

http://cbs4denver.com/campaign2010/bennet.superintendent.dps.2.1846282.html


But there's also a rumor (mentioned on Mario's AM760 show) that Obama will be making a visit to Colorado this weekend to try to pressure Democrats to vote for Bennet.

[paulk]

14. one might ask why this story has broken in the national press

rather than in the local paper of record - the Denver Post.

[frontrange]

15. The Denver Post Endorsed George Bush in 2004

And they're backing Michael Bennet in 2010. That's why this story didn't run in the Denver Post.

[paulk]

16. yeah, I know

it was a rhetorical question

I posted a few days ago that they were sitting on this story in case Bennet won the primary - then they'd run it and endorse whichever Republican won

hopefully getting "scooped" on this - even though anyone who follows local politics has known about it for months - will destroy what little credibility the Post has left.

[eleny]

17. K&R