January 31, 2008 07:55 PM UTC

Bruce Benson to Lead CU, Back Away from GOP Fundraising?

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• by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE: Credible rumors are circulating about a testy exchange (some are adding the words “of threats”) between Benson and Republican CU Regent Paul Schauer leading up to the vote. Details may follow shortly.

UPDATE #2: The Rocky reports on Schauer/Benson fireworks after the jump, after reading you’ll find the situation even more ethically murky.

UPDATE #3: Benson claims he’s “backing down from all the partisan stuff.”

Bet you didn’t see this one coming. From The Denver Post:

A prominent Republican businessman and education activist who has made millions on oil has been recommended as the sole finalist for the top job at the University of Colorado.

Bruce Benson was the top pick after almost four months of vetting more than 100 names through a 17-member search committee.

And close to midnight Wednesday, the CU Board of Regents accepted that nomination in a 7-2 vote.

Regents Michael Carrigan and Stephen Ludwig voted against the nomination, saying they were worried about Benson’s political activism.

“I’m concerned with Mr. Benson’s party politics,” Carrigan told the search committee and his fellow regents. “I would like to have more than one finalist.”

Benson will now face perhaps the toughest part of his interview – days of Q&As, tours around CU’s four campuses, faculty meet-and-greets and town-hall meetings in Denver, Boulder and Colorado Springs. He would be in charge of a combined $1 billion budget.

Benson, 69, graduated from CU in 1964. After serving as chairman of the state Republican Party from 1987 to 1991, Benson ran for governor in 1994. He lost to Roy Romer after tapping at least $3.4 million of his own money.

Benson is also one of the major fundraisers in Colorado Republican politics, notably a principal backer of 2006’s notorious Trailhead Group, and while Carrigan and Ludwig are right to worry about this, the damage may be bigger for Republicans. Might Benson have to curtail his financial involvement with Republicans if he ends up as CU’s President?

CU Regent Paul Schauer said he voted for Bruce Benson as the university president finalist even though Benson earlier warned he would finance attack ads against him if Schauer ran for re-election.

Schauer, a Centennial Republican, said he received the call from Benson, the former GOP state party chairman, in late December or early January.

“He said he would form a 527 if I ran,” Schauer said, referring to attack political groups named for the section of the federal tax code that regulates them…

House Majority Leader Alice Madden, whose district includes CU, said she was appalled at Benson’s selection to begin with, but the threat to Schauer concerns her.

“It’s clearly unethical and perhaps illegal,” Madden said. “He’s threatening a public official who’s about to take a vote on him.”

Schauer was asked why he voted for Benson, if Benson is opposing his re-election.

“This is not the absolute final vote. This is just a vote to accept the recommendation of the search committee and in essence give Benson full exposure. I want to hear what the reaction is and how he responds,” Schauer said. [Pols emphasis]

What the hell…? It’s not often that we get such a blatant example of it, but what we basically have here is a mating ritual. Each side sending out tentative overtures to see if they’re rewarded. You’ve all had a fight with your significant other, and sometimes it’s a little messy making up. You have to, you know, go the extra mile to prove your love.

Problem is that if it’s conducted out in the open like this, with public officials and votes and such, people start using unfortunate terms like “influence peddling” and “extortion” and “criminal conduct,” and off we go…

The other (obvious) point here is how problematic putting a political operator like Benson into this position is–will he bully all the Regents into submission the same way?