Denver Public Schools Superintendent Michael Bennet — who has never held elected office and is virtually unknown in most of the state — is Gov. Bill Ritter’s pick to fill Colorado’s Senate seat, sources said Friday.
Ritter’s announcement is scheduled for Saturday afternoon. Bennet’s appointment will be official after U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar is confirmed as secretary of interior, a move expected later this month.
At 44, Bennet would be the youngest senator in the upcoming session.
He met with Salazar at the senator’s downtown Denver office Friday morning, but would not discuss his new status or what he and Salazar talked about.
“I’ve just been catching up with my senator,” said Bennet, smiling on the way to his car. “I don’t have anything else to say.”
Salazar, through a spokesman, declined comment.
Bennet has had a whirlwind three weeks. He’s nationally known as an urban-education reformer and has won accolades with a pay-for-performance plan for teachers. That reputation put him on President-elect Barack Obama’s short list for education secretary, but he was edged out in the final days by Chicago schools chief Arne Duncan.
Soon after, Obama tapped Salazar for the Interior Department post, and Bennet stepped into the spotlight as a possible replacement.
After an array of candidates put their names forward for selection, the choice appeared to come down to Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper or Bennet, Hickenlooper’s former chief of staff. Ritter began to focus on Bennet after spending a long holiday weekend in the mountains last week.
The two men then discussed the choice on New Year’s Day and the pick was solidified, sources said.
Bennet was able to convincingly sell Ritter on his experience and strengths in business, education and as a former lawyer at the U.S. Department of Justice. And his numerous contacts to high-profile and powerful people indicated he had impressive fundraising potential, according to a source close to the governor.
Prior to becoming Hickenlooper’s chief of staff, Bennet was a corporate turnaround expert for billionaire businessman Philip Anschutz’s investment company. A graduate of Yale Law School and editor of its law review, Bennet was also counsel to the deputy attorney general in the Clinton administration.
The rest of the candidates, including Hickenlooper, former Colorado U.S. Attorney Tom Strickland, U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter, outgoing House Speaker Andrew Romanoff and state Senate President Peter Groff, were notified sometime later Thursday or Friday morning.
Groff, D-Denver, said the governor called him Friday morning to let him know he was not the choice. But Groff said he was thrilled with Bennet.
“I think it’s an outside-the-box pick,” said Groff, noting that Bennet was part of a new generation of public servants bringing a fresh perspective to Washington along with the 47-year-old president-elect.
“You have this new energy and this new idea of going to Washington and working outside of the beltway. And I think Michael brings that.”
But many state politicians within the Democratic Party were surprised that Ritter would pick someone with Bennet’s lack of legislative experience and his unfamiliarity with the state outside the Denver area.
“Our concern would be, ‘How well does he know our rural issues like agriculture and water?’ ” said state Sen. Jim Isgar, a Democrat from the southwest Colorado community of Hesperus.
And some Republicans said that picking Bennet made the seat more vulnerable for Democrats in the 2010 election.
“Republicans are going to take a much harder look at this seat than they otherwise would have . . . had the governor picked some of the more higher profile names,” said Rob Wit wer, an outgoing GOP state representative.
Senate Minority Leader Josh Penry, R-Grand Junction, called the pick “unorthodox.”
“I know Michael. He’s a smart guy, but he’s also, in the political process, untested and unknown.”
Picking Bennet over Perlmutter and Hickenlooper ensures that the 7th Congressional District seat remains in safe hands and that stability continues in the Denver mayor’s office during hard economic times. But some wondered if passing over Hickenlooper had something to do with the mayor continually toying with running against Ritter in a gubernatorial primary two years ago. After Hickenlooper finally opted out, he didn’t endorse Ritter until two weeks before the November 2006 election.
“Is Ritter just saying to John Hickenlooper, ‘You were going to run against me in the primary, to hell with you,’ ” said Denis Berckefeldt, a political organizer in Denver and spokesman for City Auditor Dennis Gallagher. “In my mind, this is a slap in the face to John Hickenlooper.”
Bennet, educated in private schools, graduated from Wesleyan University in Connecticut before attending law school at Yale. His brother James is editor of Atlantic Monthly and his father, Douglas, was president of Wesleyan University, former president of National Public Radio and assistant secretary of state for international organization affairs in the Clinton administration.
Bennet is married to environmental attorney Susan Daggett. They have three daughters and live in Denver.
Staff writers John Ingold, Allison Sherry, Chris Osher and Jeremy P. Meyer contributed to this report.
Karen Crummy: 303-954-1594 or kcrummy@denverpost.com
