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Polis' $5.3 million infusion sets state campaign record

By Ed Sealover, Rocky Mountain News

Published July 31, 2008 at 5:21 p.m.
Updated July 31, 2008 at 5:21 p.m.

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Jared Polis

Jared Polis

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Jared Polis has set a record for self-funded campaigns in Colorado after adding $1.6 million to his war chest in July, raising his personal contributions to $5.3 million.

The total is more than the combined total of what his two Democratic primary opponents, Joan Fitz-Gerald and Will Shafroth, have raised in the open 2nd Congressional District seat.

Added with the money he has pulled in from donors and political committees, Polis has raised $6.4 million.

Fitz-Gerald's campaign called the record "sad," noting that Polis, an Intranet entrepreneur, declared last year that he did not intend to exceed what was then the self-funding threshold of $350,000.

"It's a bad thing because it says that in our country, if you are an extremely wealthy person, you can run for office and get elected," said Mary Alice Mandarich, Fitz-Gerald's campaign manager. "What does it say to the common man — who this country was founded on — about their ability to get elected to office?"

Polis campaign manager Robert Becker defended self-funding as a more honest fundraising method than Fitz-Gerald's receipt of over $270,000 from political action committees.

Polis earned the money he is spending; he will not be beholden to any special-interest groups if elected, Becker said.

"Political action committees exist to do one of two things: Influence legislators or reward them," Becker said. "And Jared doesn't want to go that way."

The state self-funding record had belonged to Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Benson, who gave himself $3.7 million in 1994.

Polis has $1.3 million cash on hand heading into the final 12 days of the campaign.

Fitz-Gerald, the former state Senate president, raised $110,411.57 over the past month and has $433,958.35 on hand. Shafroth, a conservationist, raised $59,254.50 and has $203,761.88 on hand.