Feel like spitting your coffee across the room? Read Wikipedia’s official biography of one of the most powerful lobbyists at the Capitol:
Steve Durham is a lobbyist and former Colorado state Senator. Though a Republican, Durham is known for being a “maverick” due to being one of the relatively few homosexual members of the Republican Party, and shows little loyalty to his party. Durham hosted a fundraiser for the Democratic majority in Colorado’s legislature shortly after it came to power in 2004.
There’s more below.
During the 2002 campaign, Durham filed a lawsuit against Bob Beauprez’s primary opponent, Lt. Gov. Joe Rogers, charging misuse of campaign funds and misreporting to the FEC. At the time Joe Rogers was running in a congressional primary against current Rep. Bob Beauprez. The Rogers campaign charged that Durham was pressing the lawsuit on Beauprez’s behalf though Beauprez denied it. The FEC declined to audit the accounts of the Rogers campaign.
In 2006, Steve Durham filed charges against Bob Beauprez’s gubernatorial opponent, Marc Holtzman, alleging illegal coordination between Holtzman’s campaign and an issue committee. Durham denies that the lawsuit is on Beauprez’s behalf, declaring that he won’t do Beauprez’s “dirty work.” The Beauprez campaign is featuring developments in the case in press releases and is coming under fire from Republican activists for doing so. The current lawsuit is ongoing.
Many things have been said about Durham, who represents the Colorado Association of Home Builders and a host of other mostly pro-business clients at the capitol: Ruthless, cutthroat, cranky, scheming . . . Though yes, back in ’04 Durham did host a fundraiser for the new Democratic majority.
But Disloyal to the Party? Homosexual? Jumping Jehosaphat! What would Rose say?
Durham is a Republican, who, while representing Colorado Springs in the House of Representatives decades ago was, along with Tom Tancredo and others, one of Colorado’s original so-called House Crazies. His approach, during subsequent years as a lobbyist, is the stuff of legend, not suited for the weak-kneed or the faint of heart – even though he still likes to maintain: “I don’t know about it, I wasn’t there and I didn’t do it.”
On Monday Durham said he heard about the Wikipedia entry about him months ago, but, not being a computer geek, he didn’t exactly know what to do about it.
“I just haven’t had time to deal with it,” Durham said.
After some research, Sandra Ordonez, a spokeswoman for Wikipedia, noted that whoever originally put up the Durham biography last May has only posted that one entry – in other words, someone who had it out for Durham.
According to the rules of Wikipedia, people cannot change postings where they are the subject –
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