Resignation hits Holtzman camp

Controversy dogs embattled Leggitt

Jody Berger, Rocky Mountain News

Published May 6, 2006 at midnight

Text size  

• 0 Comments
• Email
• Print

Marc Holtzman's campaign for governor lost its lead strategist and spokesman Friday when Dick Leggitt resigned, saying that after weeks of controversy he had become a distraction for the campaign.

"During the past nine months I have really enjoyed working to help you build a campaign team and to carry your conservative message to Republicans in Colorado," Leggitt wrote to Holtzman in a letter dated Friday.

The resignation comes one week after Leggitt admitted under oath that he sent false polling numbers to a reporter.

Initially, Holtzman said he would investigate Leggitt's actions, but in a statement released Friday, he didn't mention the incident. Holtzman said he accepted the resignation and thanked Leggitt "for his loyalty and hard work."

Neither Holtzman, Leggitt nor Laura Teal, the campaign's political director, returned calls for comment. Jesse Mallory, the campaign spokesman, said he did not know who would take over Leggitt's position.

In his letter, Leggitt tried to pin some of the blame for his woes on Congressman Bob Beauprez, Holtzman's opponent in the race for the Republican nomination.

"Beauprez has shamefully launched a campaign of distortion, innuendo and false statements carried out through staff and surrogates," Leggitt wrote. "Unfortunately, I have become a target of this effort."

Beauprez's campaign declined to comment.

The past several months have been tumultuous ones for the Holtzman campaign.

Most recently, Leggitt, Teal and Holtzman had to defend the campaign against charges of campaign finance violations. Testifying in a Denver courtroom, Leggitt said he sent bogus numbers to the Denver Post but called it "spin," and implied that it's a common practice among political operatives.

The trial came at a time when Holtzman was publicly weighing whether to petition his way onto the primary ballot or to attend the Republican Party state assembly, an event he suggested could be rigged against him. On April 28, he decided to do both.

The campaign has also seen an exodus among its staff. In the two months before Leggitt's resignation, Holtzman's campaign said goodbye to a steering committee member, a field director and a press secretary.

When Leggitt joined Holtzman's campaign last year, he was best known for orchestrating Jim Gilmore's rise to governor in Virginia in 1997. Before that, he had worked on campaigns in his native Texas and several other states. He'd also served as a congressional aide and worked as a wire service reporter.

Featured

• 2008 Voter’s Guide

  

  Use our Ballot Builder tool to compare your viewpoints to the candidates.

• A Dozen on Denver

  

  Sandra Dallas wrote 'Lennie's tavern' for our ongoing fiction series. Check it out!

• Rocky Multimedia

  

  The news comes alive in our videos and slide shows. Catch up on today's events.

• Bronco Dean's rant

  

  Listen to Bronco Dean's totally biased pregame rant about the Broncos-Jaguars game.

• Presidential Elections

  

  See how Colorado counties have voted through the years.

• County election profiles

  

  A look at how residents in each Colorado county may vote.

• A dream fulfilled

  

  A Rocky Mountain News and MediaStorm production

• Latest from Dove Valley

  

  Click for more broncos videos.

• Sam Adams' Open Mic

  

  No. 44 means a lot to Floyd Little