Michael Bennet DPS deal hits the New York Times

• Michael Bennett is part of the Philip Anschutz clan. Anschutz does a great job of finding these young financial wizards like Michael Bennett and Joe Nachio. Never forget that Nachio was hired by Anschutz to marry the "sure-to-go-bankrupt-and take-Anschutz-it" Qwest to the cash-cow US West, our old and trusted phone company. This resulted in thousands of employees and retirees losing everything they had in US WEST stock. But it saved Anschutz' debt laden and ill-conceived QWEST. And of course Nachio got sent to jail while Anschutz got off scot-free with his fortune in tact. If I recall Anschutz built a hospital for 50 million or so and now everyone thinks he's great including the Denver media.

• It's a ton of fun to beat up on the Post whenever possible (and it's often deserved), but I think you guys are off base this time. I remember the Post writing about this while it was going on, but probably not with the Bennett-focused political invective his opponents might prefer. A quick Google turned up several Post stories about this from 2007 and 2008, so I'm not sure why some of you couldn't find them, if you even tried, especially the ones with headlines like "Crunched by Market Numbers" and "DPS Takes Hit on Bond Refinancing," the latter a Denver Post story from 2008 which I actually found posted on the DPS website. http://communications.dpsk12.org/newsclips/dps-takes-hit-on-bond-refi

• Actually, the North Denver News did a pretty good article about this, in 2007. Here's a link http://northdenvernews.com/content/view/1056/39/

• To contend that the credit crisis could not have been predicted seems tantamount to boasting that one had no foresight at the time (include the entire School Board for proceeding, lemming-like, even after the failure of Bear Stearns) and declaring an disinclination to acquire any. The size of DPS would seem to have twisted the Board's understanding of the role of the Superintendent to such an extent that gambling with hundreds of millions of dollars in public funds (or, rather, commitments to pay teachers) was thought to be well within his purview.

• The reason you haven't read about this in the Post is pretty clear. They blatantly support Bennet, and bash Romanoff because of his ability to generate more advertising dollars for political ads for the Post and channel 9 than any other candidate. Bennet is stuck here, because he has constantly touted his "business experience" as an investment expert. So what can be the explanation- incompetence or thievery?

• What about Romer? is exactly right: Our own state senator was involved in selling these same shitty derivatives bundles to sucker townships in New Mexico. There's a starter article here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/wade-norris/banks-stealing-from-color_b_496143.html "On a local level here in Colorado, the circle grows tighter, as Colorado's own State Senator, Chris Romer, was at that time the person lobbying for New Mexico to engage in these swaps. NMFA records show that among those lobbying for the swaps was a lead banker for JP Morgan, Chris Romer. His company ended up among the five banks that entered into swap agreements with the state. And the ties to Colorado don't stop there - Senate appointee Michael Bennet was formerly at the head of Denver Public Schools. He was at the helm when the decision was made to invest the teachers' pension fund into a derivative 'swap' deal. Now, two years later, Denver Public Schools is paying about 3 million per month in losses on this swap. DPS (Denver Public Schools) entered into negotiations with JP Morgan and CitiGroup, agreeing to issue fixed-rate bonds secured by DPS school buildings and other properties. DPS then began discussion to enter into an interest-rate swap agreement with JP Morgan, Bank of America and the Royal Bank of Canada. We believe that following ensued: DPS entered into a swap transaction, believing that interest rates would stay high. As recent financial news tells us, interest rates fell. We are concerned that this may have translated to a loss of taxpayer dollars. I wonder if the local SEIU chapter will stand by its endorsement of the newly appointed Senator Michael Bennet, who has close ties these Wall street banks and was responsible for this 'swap' when SEIU international is now calling for a sweeping investigation of these 'swaps'."

• Concur. But............What if the mailed in ballots still name him the primary winner? I voted for Romanoff, mailed it off a week ago. Here's hoping Romanoff wins this primary. Given, Buck's a carnival huckster, a Princeton elite that wears cowboy boots, and Norton's another horrible candidate with corporate ties, but this is a big deal. We cannot afford a repub as a U.S. Senator.

• Wasn't big FOB (friend of Bennet) Chris Romer a big cheese at JP Morgan Chase who worked to get this deal for JP? The same guy who got NM Gov Bill Richardson into hot water in New Mexico with a pay-to-play campaign scandal?

• Bennet should have known that derivatives were risky. As for fees, he should have known that The House Always Wins. Public funds needs to be invested in a low-risk fashion. If they'd issued regular bonds, this would not be a problem. But Bennet convinced the board (in 2008!) that this was a good way to invest public monies. Yeah, the risky investments have the possibility of higher return, but, duh, *risky*. This is not a financially responsible way for Bennet (or the board) to invest public funds. They're supposed to be shepherding the public trusts, not gambling them on risky derivatives that earn huge fees for their buddies on Wall Street. Sometimes government needs to be run like a business, sure, but most times, government needs to be run like a responsible *government*.

• thanks for your perspective Rajeev. What I got from it was; everybody's doing it, the Superintendent doesn't have the last word, and that's just what we want in a Senator; plausible deniability, a follower and consistent refusal of accountability. That may play in California, but not in Colorado. We still like to think we have some higher standard for our elected representatives. Bennet is done.

• So Michael Bennet and the DPS School Board were duped by the investment bankers. What's surprizing about that? Hundreds of unsuspecting investors got cheated. DPS was one of hundreds of labor unions, pension funds, retiree benefits groups that suffered the hit. Still, all is not lost. The funds could recover and pay the returns once envisioned and projected. This is a snapshot when the picture looks dim, but it can recover. When TARP funds bailed out GM, the picture was grim. We, the tax payers have now received the money back, and we have earned a profit. Let's not be hasty to condemn the results of DPS investments. The risk was not just Michael's liability. It was a responsibility of the entire team. In retrospect, we all paid for a gambling-addicted Wall Street. Rajeev Rawat Sunnyvale, CA

• I know this story has been all over other media (including the Cherry Creek News, whose recent Bennet/Regal Cinemas article the Post derided as "sleazy") plus prominent local (Colorado Pols) and national (Daily Kos, Huffington Post) blogs since March. Is Bill correct that the Post has done nothing on this so far? I thought they touched on it a couple of times, perhaps in some of the stuff about the internecine DPS Board combat involving Mr. Boasberg, Andrea Merida, et al. (although the denverpost.com search engine doesn't readily turn anything up...).

• Yet another New York Times story done on Colorado events. Shouldn't this story be done by, you know, the LOCAL newspaper? The Post should be embarrassed, not that they will be.

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