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Judge's ruling a blow to Holtzman campaign

GOP hopeful must prove signatures valid in 2 districts

Stuart Steers, Rocky Mountain News

Published June 17, 2006 at midnight

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Marc Holtzman's campaign to win a spot on the August Republican primary ballot was dealt another setback Friday, when a Denver judge ruled that Holtzman would have to prove he had collected 1,500 petition signatures from residents of two congressional districts.

However, it seems likely that the Colorado Supreme Court will have the final say in a case that could determine the fate of Holtzman's insurgent campaign for governor. Holtzman has been challenging U.S. Rep. Bob Beauprez for the party's nomination.

When asked if he would appeal, Holtzman attorney Mark Grueskin paraphrased a judge who had told attorneys in a case, "Gentlemen, I know I'm just a speed bump on your way to the Supreme Court."

"I think that was pretty good advice," Grueskin said.

Earlier this month, Secretary of State Gigi Dennis found that Holtzman had failed to collect the required 1,500 signatures of Republican voters in the 1st and 7th congressional districts. Dennis said that Holtzman had come up short by several hundred signatures in both districts.

Holtzman's attorneys argued Friday that, under Colorado's provisional ballot law, a registered voter could cast a ballot anywhere in the state, and therefore signatures collected outside the two congressional districts should be counted toward the total.

Denver District Court Judge Robert Hyatt rejected that argument, saying the legislature had clearly intended that the required number of signers reside in each of the districts when it wrote Colorado's petition requirements.

The law "most certainly requires that the 1,500 eligible electors must actually be located within each of those districts," Hyatt wrote.

While that decision was a blow to Holtzman, Hyatt also rejected a challenge to the qualifications of many of the paid petition circulators who gathered signatures on behalf of Holtzman. That was part of an effort by attorneys representing Beauprez and his supporters to get many of Holtzman's signatures tossed out.

Next week, the attorneys will reconvene before Hyatt to begin sorting through thousands of Holtzman signatures that were rejected by Dennis. The secretary of state has already tentatively agreed to accept 800 signatures she had previously rejected, although most of the signatures are from voters outside the key congressional districts.

The judge's decision pleased much of the Republican establishment, which has been angered by Holtzman's challenge to Beauprez.

"We're heartened by the court's decision today," said GOP State Chairman Bob Martinez. "The state party believes that anyone attempting to become the party's gubernatorial nominee must show that they have the necessary statewide support."

While Holtzman plans to appeal Hyatt's ruling, his supporters also insist he collected a little more than 1,500 valid signatures in the two congressional districts.

"My sense is that we'll have enough signatures," said Holtzman attorney John Head.

According to Head, there were more than 9,000 signatures disqualified by Dennis that should have been counted. He said many of those were rejected because it was hard to read their handwriting or their information wasn't current on secretary of state databases.

Last week, Holtzman's name was placed back on the Republican ballot by another judge, who said he wanted to make sure Holtzman would have access to the ballot should his challenge to the secretary of state be successful. An attorney representing Beauprez told Hyatt he may soon try to have that ruling overturned.

What's next

• Monday: Holtzman attorneys will appear before Denver District Court Judge Robert Hyatt to try to convince him that thousands of Holtzman petition signatures that were rejected by Secretary of State Gigi Dennis should be counted.

• Later in the week: Holtzman is expected to appeal to the Colorado Supreme Court the judge's ruling that he must collect 1,500 signatures from residents of every congressional district in the state.

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