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Sen. Salazar acknowledges Benson's abilities

By Lynn Bartels, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published February 19, 2008 at 12:30 a.m.

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Salazar says Benson has rightly seized on funding issue.

Salazar says Benson has rightly seized on funding issue.

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U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar believes University of Colorado presidential candidate Bruce Benson might be the right person to put together a coalition to deal with the university's funding crisis.

Salazar on Monday praised Benson's community leadership and contributions to education.

"I think that needs to be recognized," Salazar, a Denver Democrat, said in an interview.

Benson, an oilman and former state Republican Party chairman, has been criticized in some corners for being too political and not having any advanced degrees.

The CU Board of Regents made Benson their sole finalist for the job on Jan. 30. The board will decide Wednesday whether to hire him.

Salazar said the decision on hiring a president is up to the regents and he has no idea what process the regents used when looking at candidates.

"I don't know the other applicants or the process. I can't say whether he's the very best president for CU," Salazar said. But he noted that Benson has correctly seized on funding as a critical issue.

"Colorado ranks 49th in the country in funding higher education, and it's going to be really difficult to come up with the revenue sources to get Colorado on the right track," Salazar said.