PARKER: It's not calories lawmakers were counting at reception

By Penny Parker, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Saturday, March 15, 2008

The Rocky / 2006

Janet Elway and YMCA of Metropolitan Denver President Jim Hiner are surrounded by kids who benefitted from Janet's Camp, Elway's annual fundraiser that sends kids to YMCA Summer Day Camp.

Senate Minority Leader Andy McElhany announced the mouth-watering menu for the Colorado Restaurant Association's Blue Ribbon reception for legislators on the Senate floor Thursday with this caveat: "They will assign somebody to follow you around and keep track of what you're eating. When you reach $49, they will cut you off."

He was referring to the Amendment 41 restrictions that won't allow lawmakers to accept freebies valued at more than $50.

"I think I'm at $18.39," joked State Sen. Nancy Spence during the CRA sip and sup in the Pinnacle Club that was canned last year after a 16-year run because of some legislators' concern about a potential Amendment 41 violation. "I'm up to one crab cake, one slice of pizza and one glass of red wine."

I told her I'd keep monitoring her intake and sound the alarm when she was close to the legal limit.

Kidding aside, CRA honcho Pete Meersman said his association put a value on the party of $41 per person. Food and drinks are donated by CRA members. "It's a reception, we don't get up and talk about issues, it's a social thing," he said.

State Sen. Shawn Mitchell said he had no guilt pangs over attending the event. "This fits within the letter and the spirit of Amendment 41," he said. "But for Trinity Grille's crab cakes, I would have stomped on the law."

CAMP KICK-OFF: When I asked Janet Elway, the brains and beauty behind Janet's Camp, an annual fundraiser to send kids to YMCA Summer Day Camp, if there would be anything new at this year's party at Elway's Cherry Hills mansion, state congressional candidate Josh Hanfling quipped: "We've got Janet Elway in a bathing suit. It doesn't get any better than that."

Last year, Quizno's founder Rick Schaden and wife, Cheryl, laid down 10 grand if Elway would swim laps in her backyard pool (shades of her competitive swimming days at Stanford). She slipped into a red one-piece and stroked her way across the pool.

Hanfling, Elway and a host of bold-face names gathered on the patio at Elway's in Cherry Creek on Thursday to jump-start ticket sales. This year's pool party is June 6. Tix: Carey Ledford, 720-524-2714.

DOG-GONE TO-DO: Pat "Gabby Gourmet" Miller and her band of two-legged dog lovers invite you to join us for the fourth annual Give Paws, a benefit for the Dumb Friends League, beginning at 6 p.m. March 27 at Strings, 1700 Humboldt St.

Man's best friends creating fab fare are Pat Perry (Highlands Garden Cafe), Matt Selby (Vesta Dipping Grill, Steuben's), Alex Seidel (Fruition), Sean Yontz (Mezcal, Tambien), Tyler Wiard (Elway's), Michael Bortz (City Bakery), Keegan Gerhard and Lisa Bailey (D-Bar Desserts coming soon) and Aaron Whitcomb (Strings). Cost: $125 per person; reservations: Melannie Frantz, 303-751-5772, ext. 7223 or mfrantz@ddfl.org.

EAVESDROPPING on a wife to her husband talking about former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer's wife standing by his side during his confession to paying prostitutes: "I would have been standing over your bloody body saying, 'How do I reload this thing?' "

Penny Parker's column appears Tuesday through Saturday. Listen to her on the Caplis and Silverman radio show between 4 and 5 p.m. Fridays on KHOW-AM (630). Call her at 303-954-5224 or e-mail parkerp@RockyMountainNews.com.