Suthers re-elected; Republicans oust Treasurer Kennedy, Secretary of State Buescher

Republicans ousted the state treasurer and secretary of state in Tuesday's election as attorney general John Suthers was re-elected, giving the GOP three of five statewide elected offices.

Democrats John Hickenlooper and Joe Garcia were elected governor and lieutenant governor.

Walker Stapleton, a real estate developer and investor, defeated incumbent Democratic treasurer Cary Kennedy in a close race, while GOP election lawyer Scott Gessler beat incumbent secretary of state Bernie Buescher.

Kennedy's work as treasurer has included achieving a positive return on the investment of the state's financial reserves during the recent recession, as well as implementing bipartisan legislation to finance improvements and repairs of public schools. She also posted online, for the first time, the state's investments and a statement of cash flows and helped put in place a searchable database of the state's revenues and expenditures.

Stapleton, a relative of former President George W. Bush, argued during his campaign that Colorado should not use federal stimulus dollars to balance its budget and said he would push the General Assembly to restore a spending cap.

Gessler, a former federal prosecutor and a U.S. Army reserve veteran, has been the Colorado Republican Party's go-to lawyer on election issues for several years. He has advocated for legislation that would require all voters to show a government-issued identification card at the polls and was involved in GOP efforts to secure a favorable re-districting of legislative and Congressional seats in 2001 and 2002.

Buescher, a former state representative from Grand Junction, was appointed secretary of state after Republican Mike Coffman was elected to Congress in Nov. 2008.

Suthers, a former U.S. attorney for the district of Colorado, beat Boulder county district attorney Stan Garnett despite reports that a man whom he had released from jail under a plea bargain had gone on to commit several murders.

Photo of treasurer-elect Walker Stapleton courtesy of Stapleton for Colorado.

Ground Broken for New Colorado History Museum

The Centennial state will soon have a new history museum.

About a hundred people gathered at 12th Avenue and Broadway in Denver Wednesday for the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Colorado History Museum.

The new museum replaces the facility located adjacent to the state's Judicial Building west of the Capitol.

Construction of the $111 million replacement facility is being financed by certificates of participation. Build America Bonds issued by the federal government will reimburse Colorado for 35 percent of the interest paid by the state on the project.

The result of that federal assistance, made possible by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act enacted into law in February, will be that investors in the certificates of participation receive full return on their investment while the state's taxpayers pay an effective interest rate of only 4.24 percent.

State treasurer Cary Kennedy says that the federal help will save Colorado $77 million on the project.

The new museum, which will be about 190,000 square feet in size, is scheduled to open in 2011.

The new judicial complex, which is expected to cost about $250 million, is to open in 2013.

Cary Kennedy Won't Be Salazar's Replacement in DC

State treasurer Cary Kennedy announced today that she does not want to be considered as a replacement for Sen. Ken Salazar.

Kennedy, who was elected as the state's chief financial officer in 2006, had been mentioned along with U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Denver; House speaker Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver; U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter, D-Golden; Denver mayor John Hickenlooper; and U.S. Rep. John Salazar, D-Manassa.

Kennedy's announcement cited family considerations.

“Senator Salazar has been an extraordinary public servant for the citizens of Colorado, and the nation will be well served by his knowledge and expertise,” Kennedy said. “I am honored and humbled to have been considered for the appointment to Senator Salazar’s seat. But right now, with young kids, my focus and my energy is with my family. Kids are young only once, and it is a gift to raise them.”

Kennedy has two young children, Kadin, 11, and Kyra, 9.

Sen. Salazar has been nominated by President-elect Barack Obama as secretary of interior.

Ritter, Kennedy Say Hundreds of Millions of Dollars Are Available for Higher Ed Construction

Gov. Bill Ritter and state treasurer Cary Kennedy are expected to announce today that the state's colleges and universities will have more than $200 million available for 12 construction projects.

The state raised the money through sales of "Certificates of Participation" Wednesday and today.

The construction projects, authorized by SB 08-218, SB 08-233 and HJR 08-1042, are:

1. University of Northern Colorado: Butler-Hancock Renovation

2. Colorado Northwestern Community College: Academic Building, Craig Campus

3. Colorado State University at Pueblo: Academic Resources Center Remodel

4. Colorado School of Mines: Brown Hall Addition

5. CSU Fort Collins: Clark Building Revitalization

6. Auraria Higher Education Campus: Science Building

7. Western State College: Taylor Hall Renovation and Addition

8. Mesa State College: Wubben Hall Expansion and Renovation

9. University of Colorado at Colorado Springs: Renovation of Science Building

10. Morgan Community College: Nursing, Technology & Science Building

11. Front Range Community College, Larimer Campus: Science Classroom Project

12. Fort Lewis College: Berndt Hall Reconstruction

Kennedy: State Investments are Safe

In the aftermath of turmoil on Wall Street and in the nation's credit markets, Colorado treasurer Cary Kennedy is insisting that the state's money is not at risk.

Colorado has almost $7 billion in investment holdings.

“The most important thing for people to know is that our first priority is protecting the safety of taxpayer funds,” Kennedy said. “We take a highly conservative approach in our investments. Our exposure to the ups and downs of the market is limited.”

Kennedy said that the state had not realized any losses up to this point, and that she was continuing to monitor both the national and the local economic situation.

“The state does not invest in equities, therefore we’re more insulated when the markets rise and fall," Kennedy said. “What we’re going through now in our financial markets is unprecedented, but we are as strongly protected as possible.”

Specifically, Kennedy said that the Treasury did not have holdings of asset-backed commercial paper or structured investment vehicles.

“We do not hold collateralized debt obligations (“CDOs”), and we are not holding money market funds that are in trouble,” she said.

The state treasurer, a Democrat elected in 2006, also explained that Colorado had no equity stakes in companies such as Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley or Merrill Lynch. About one half of one percent of the state’s investment holdings is in two subsidiaries of AIG.

In December 2007 Kennedy discontinued the state’s securities lending program due to concerns she had about the market’s direction.

“Our analysis last December showed it wasn’t worth the risk to continue the program, so we stopped it,” she said.



Kennedy also put the state’s investment holdings online as one of her first acts after taking office. “Transparency is the best way for people to have confidence in what we hold,” said Kennedy.

School Construction Bill on Fast Track; Will Get Valentine's Day Hearing

Proposed legislation aimed at easing the financial burdens of constructing new school facilities in the state, introduced this week by the House speaker and Senate president, is headed for a hearing before a Senate committee tomorrow.

HB 1335, labeled the "Building Excellent Schools Today" Act by its sponsors, calls for a statewide needs assessment, process for the selection of schools to receive construction funding, and the expenditure of up to $1 billion in funds to build new facilities.

The sponsors say that the bill does not contemplate any new taxes or fees to pay for its objectives.

The hearing before the Senate Education Committee will take place Thursday, Feb. 14 at 1 pm in the West Foyer of the Capitol. Among the witnesses expected to testify in support of the bill are Treasurer Cary Kennedy, an eastern Colorado school superintendent, a member of the state Board of Education, and business leaders and parents.