Ali Hasan

Beaver Creek filmmaker, occasional TV personality and maverick Muslim and Republican politician Ali Hasan semi-officially announced his run for state treasurer in Eagle County Monday, labeling his two Republican opponents for the GOP nomination “fiscal liberals” and slamming current treasurer Cary Kennedy, a Democrat, for investing in companies that took bailout funds.

Republican candidate for Colorado State Treasurer Muhammad Ali Hasan has penned a tribute to Michael Jackson. It is a sincere and hopeful piece. It also ranks up there on the strange meter next to Mark Sanford’s goofball love letters.

No shoes were thrown but Ali Hasan did put his foot in his mouth last week at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington, D.C., baffling the arch-conservative crowd with some decidedly moderate views.

The Pueblo man arrested Wednesday on charges he sexually assaulted a 5-year-old boy while working as the manager of Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign for southern Colorado also managed the campaign of Republican state legislative candidate Muhammad Ali Hasan for two months in 2007, according to state records.

Jeffrey Bartleson, who listed his job as “political consultant” when he entered the Pueblo County Jail last week on another molestation charge, was the first of several campaign managers for Hasan, who spent more than $350,000 on failed bids in Senate District 8 and then House District 56.

UPDATE: Hasan released a statement to the Colorado Independent on Barlteson. Read it below the fold.

Ali Hasan won’t take no for answer when it comes to the mountain monorail. The Beaver Creek Republican who won Eagle County but lost Lake and Summit counties and therefore his really expensive bid for the state legislature, ran on a platform of promising a monorail in every pot.

That mass transit solution to I-70 weekend gridlock resonated with some voters, but clearly not enough, so Hasan now says he may do an end-run around the legislative approach and run for state treasurer in 2010 — an office where he could show the feasibility of his financial formula for mountain mass transit. He also wants to see a similar train along the I-25 corridor.

Republican Ali Hasan spent more than $350,000 on his failed campaign for the state House of Representatives, according to newspaper reports — more than four times the amount spent by his Democrat opponent, Christine Scanlan.

A high-profile and highly costly state House race notable for its bizarre twists and turns — restraining orders requested and dropped, vows of celibacy — has taken a turn toward the ugly in the final days before Tuesday’s election.

Members of Colorado’s Muslim community Monday praised former Secretary of State Colin Powell for his interview on NBC’s“Meet the Press” Sunday in which the retired Republican Army general endorsed Democrat Barack Obama and condemned his own party’s attempts to portray Obama as a Muslim associated with terrorists.

First Ali Hasan wrote a biweekly column for the Vail Daily newspaper. Then he resigned that gig a year ago to seek state office (first Senate District 8, then House District 56 after Republicans rebuked him for initially planning to challenge popular GOP state Rep. Al White for SD8).

Republican statehouse candidate for House District 56 and GOP up-and-comer Ali Hasan received two potentially illegal corporate contributions last month that appear to have escaped the watchful eye of the Colorado Secretary of State’s office and his wayward campaign accountant.