In what was considered a bellwether race for the country, Colorado, incumbent Sen. Michael Bennet, who had the support of President Barack Obama, won his primary race against challenger Andrew Romanoff, a former speaker of the house in the state legislature. Although a newcomer to politics, having been appointed to the Senate seat by Colorado Governor Bill Ritter, Bennet has excelled at  inside-the-beltway fundraising, which we’ve written about here. Bennet raised large chunks of his $7.7 million war chest from donors in Washington, DC; New York City, and Los Angeles.

Come November, Bennet will face Ken Buck, a tea party candidate who beat Jane Norton, and had ties to the Washington GOP establishment, as we wrote about here. Norton recently postponed a planned fundraiser at the offices of American Gas Association hosted by several lobbyists including  Charlie Black, who is Norton’s brother-in-law, and his wife, Judy, who had held  at least four fundraisers for Norton.

Normandy Group lobbyist Louis Dupart, who specializes in seeking earmarks and federal funding for clients, is hosting a fundraiser on July 20 for Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo.

As we reported in February, the Normandy Group represents the Aurora Economic Development Council (AEDC), a public-private partnership between the City of Aurora and local businesses.  AEDC hired the firm to seek funding to build an interchange at a Colorado highway to help ease traffic near the Fitzsimons/Anschutz Medical campus. The Normandy Group also represents Forest City Enterprises, the developer of the massive 184 acre bioscience park. This is the second fundraiser that Dupart has hosted for Bennet this year. The lobbyist and his wife, Theresa, have given the senator a total of $1,500 since 2008, the most recent a $1,000 contribution in March, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Bennet lists the project here in his 2011 appropriations requests as a “request not submitted,” stating, “Please note there are a limited number of requests I can effectively make every year. There will be worthy projects that do not make the list, but are eligible to submit a funding request the following year.” Bennet campaign spokesman Trevor Kincaid said that the senator has a policy of not seeking any local highway funding because it “interferes with state and local decisions,” adding that Dupart hosted the fundraiser because he is “just a supporter.”

Earmarks are a hot election issue for Sen. Bennet, who has introduced a bill that would ban earmarks to private, for-profit entities, as well as “make improvements to web disclosures of earmarks, including earmarks searchable by any lobbyist associated with them.” His would-be GOP opponent in the Senate race, Jane Norton, has criticized him for not supporting an all-out moratorium on these projects. (Note: the Sunlight Foundation supports legislation that would create a centralized, online, searchable database of earmarks.)

Dupart has hosted at least a dozen fundraisers for Colorado politicians since 2006. On the House side, Rep. Ed Perlmutter, D-Colo., who has also been feted by Dupart (See this fundraiser in March and this one from 2009) took credit in an April newsletter, stating “Getting funding for this project and getting it moving is one of my top priorities in Congress.” Perlmutter has  requested an earmark for $8.5 million for the completion of the final phase of the project, as we reported here.

Dupart’s fundraising goes beyond the Colorado delegation. In 2010, he’s hosted at least 19 parties, all but three at the eatery Bistro Bis. His clients include a range of entities seeking federal funding for various projects, including American Systems Corporation, Central College, and the City of Pensacola.  In February, Dupart told the Pennsacola News Journal (subscription required) that the firm has a goal of getting clients a minimum of 10-to-1 return on investment. Dupart did not return a call requesting comment.

President Barack Obama is scheduled to visit to Denver today to attend a fundraiser for Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) Bennet is defending his seat in one of the most competitive races in the country–rated a “toss up” by The Cook Political report. He faces a primary challenge by Andrew Romanoff, former speaker of the state house; the Republican challenger is Jane Norton (We blogged about her here.). So far Bennet has been far in the lead in the money race.

Louis Dupart, a lobbyist who has successfully sought earmarks from  Colorado politicians, will host a fundraising breakfast on Feb. 24 for Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., the second event for a Colorado lawmaker he’s scheduled this month.The event occurs in the middle of earmark  season — the time of year when members of Congress decide on their funding requests for the next fiscal year and submit them to the two Appropriations Committees. House requests have to be submitted by March 19.

Dupart and his colleagues at The Normandy Group, a Washington, D.C.-based lobbying firm that ranks appropriations and federal legislative issues among its specialties, have hosted or are scheduled to host at least nine fundraisers for Colorado politicians, including some who have requested earmarks for projects benefiting the firm’s clients.

In a Feb. 25, 2009 press release, Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.) — who was the beneficiary of a fundraiser hosted by Dupart on September 30, 2009 — noted that he’d secured $1,425,000 in funding for an interchange at Interstate 225 and Colfax Ave for the 2009 fiscal year. That’s the same interchange that the Aurora Economic Development Council (AEDC), a nonprofit public-private partnership made up of businesses and officials from the city of Aurora, lists as a priority for its federal lobbying. The Normandy Group, which has represented the AEDC since May 2008, sought “federal funding for I-225 interchange” for its client, according to lobbying disclosure reports.

The project was aimed at relieving additional traffic created by a project that the AEDC had pushed — a new health care complex called the Fitzsimons/Anschutz Medical campus. The Normandy Group also represents the developer of the massive 184 acre bioscience park,
Forest City Enterprises. Normandy’s lobbyists tracked highway spending in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, better known as the stimulus bill, and lobbied on funding for transportation projects in other appropriations bills for the developer, according to 2009 lobbying disclosure reports.
Several members of the Colorado delegation have sought funding for the I-225 project. In addition to Perlmutter, who included another request for funding for the project in his fiscal year 2010 earmark requests, former Sen. Ken Salazar, now Interior Secretary, and former Sen. Wayne Allard requested funding for the project. Dupart hosted at least two fundraisers for Salazar, on June 29, 2006, and March 13, 2008. In addition, the stimulus bill included funding for early phases of the project.
In an undated press release from the University of Colorado, which will operate several facilities at the new medical campus, Wendy Mitchell, president and CEO of the Aurora Economic Development Council, cited “coordination between Colorado’s Congressional Delegation and the Anschutz/Fitzsimons Stakeholders Group…as making the funding a reality.” In August 2009, the AEDC honored all the members of the Colorado congressional delegation with an “A-List Leadership Award,” presented by Colorado Governor Bill Ritter and President and CEO of the Aurora Economic Development Council Wendy Mitchell.

Overall, the AEDC has reported spending $60,000 for the Normandy Group’s services since 2008, and Forest City Enterprises, $540,000, although the developer’s interests included projects across many states.
When asked for comment by the Sunlight Foundation, AEDC Vice President Bryan Blakely said the Normandy Group primarily helped by organizing meetings and that while the group’s assistance was beneficial, they do not wholly attribute the success of the construction project to its efforts.

Dupart was scheduled to host a fundraiser for Colorado freshman Democrat Rep. Betsy Markey on Feb. 11. The after-effects of a blizzard shut down much of Washington that day. Louis Dupart did not return calls asking for comment or if the event took place; neither did Rep. Markey’s office.
Follow links to view invitations to parties hosted by Louis Dupart and other Normandy Group lobbyists for Colorado politicians:

• Sen. Ken Salazar, 6/29/2006, host: Louis Dupart, breakfast, Bistro Bis.
• Sen. Ken Salazar, 3/13/2008, host: Louis Dupart, breakfast, Bistro Bis.
• Rep. (now Sen.) Mark Udall, host: Michael Rose, 4/24/2008, breakfast, Bistro Bis.
• Rep. Diana DeGette, host: Louis Dupart, 7/16/2008, breakfast, Bistro Bis.
• Rep. Diana DeGette, host: Louis Dupart, 9/23/2008, breakfast, Bistro Bis.
• Rep. Ed Perlmutter, host: Louis Dupart, 9/30/2009, breakfast, Art and Soul.
• Rep. John Salazar, host: Louis Dupart, 12/3/2009, breakfast, Bistro Bis.
• Rep. Betsy Markey, host: Louis Dupart, 2/11/2010, breakfast, Bistro Bis.
• Sen. Michael Bennet, host: Louis Dupart, 2/24/2010, breakfast, Bistro Bis.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee hosts a breakfast briefing this morning with Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), both members of the Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee and the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. Bennet is facing a primary challenge this year, but first quarter reports showed him outraising his opponent, Andrew Romanoff, by a ratio of 3.5 to 1. Fifty-eight percent of the cash he collects in large individual contributions comes from out of state. Merkley is not up for reelection this year.

The monthly DSCC breakfasts are open to any donor who gives at least $5,000 to the committee per year, according to the invitation.

• Danny Tarkanian, who hopes to unseat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) in November, is boasting of recent polling numbers in an invitation to a fundraising luncheon at La Loma on the 19th.  Tarkanian is part of a crowded field of Republicans challenging the Reid, who is widely seen as vulnerable thanks in large part to his championship of health care reform.
• Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), who faces a primary challenge back home in Colorado from Andrew Romanoff (who was recently passed over as a possible candidate in the governor’s race) continues to show his D.C. fundraising power with a reception, featuring Education Secretary Arne Duncan, also on the 19th. Before being tapped for the Senate seat by now-retiring Governor Bill Ritter, Bennet served as Denver school superintendent. Bennet has raised 58 percent of his cash from out-of-state; after Denver, his top two contributing geographical areas are New York and Washington, D.C. The reception is at the home of Katherine and David Bradley; Bradley is publisher of The Atlantic Monthly Magazine, where Bennet’s brother, James, is editor-in-chief.

The same Capitol Hill townhouse that was the location of  a scheduled luncheon for Colorado GOP Senate hopeful Jane Norton today will be the site of a fundraiser for her would-be Democratic rival,  Sen. Michael Bennet tomorrow. Pitching in to help the incumbent raise cash will be his fellow Colorado Senator, Mark Udall.

Bennet has been rallying donor support outside Colorado in the face of a primary challenge from Andrew Romanoff, who has strong ties in the state, having served as state speaker of the house before being term limited out. Bennet, formerly Denver’s superintendent of schools, was tapped by Gov. Bill Ritter to take Sen. Ken Salazar’s seat when he became Secretary of the Interior.

Nearly 60 percent of Bennet’s large contributions ($200+) come from out-of-state donors, with New York; Washington, DC, and Los Angeles being his second, third, and fourth largest sources of cash next to Denver, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Williams & Jensen, a law and lobbying powerhouse that has reported $12.6 million in lobbying earning this year alone, runs the Capitol Hill townhouse, which is a popular site for fundraisers. The firm’s employees and PAC form the third largest source for federal candidates of lobbying campaign contributions so far this election cycle.