Current Position: U.S. Senator (since January 2009)
Credit: Melina Mara/TWP
Why He Matters
Considered an education reformer, Bennet was the unlikely choice of Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter (D) to fill the open Senate seat after President Barack Obama chose Ken Salazar as his interior secretary. Bennet has never run for public office, and he beat out candidates for the job with years of political experience. Bennet has less than one year to entrench himself before running for re-election in 2010.
As the superintendent of the Denver Public Schools (DPS), Bennet made a name for himself by shutting down poorly-run schools and going to extremes to encourage children to attend once the schools re-opened.
This show of concern and the subsequent positive results in one of the state’s worst-performing school districts nearly landed Bennet a plum post as education secretary in Obama’s cabinet. That job eventually went to Chicago Public School’s Chief Executive Arne Duncan, but Bennet is expected to be Obama’s Senate point man on education reform. Bennet, like Obama, advocates incentive-based pay for teachers, which the former superintendent negotiated in union discussions for the Denver school system.
But the wealthy Yale law school graduate may face his toughest hurdle yet when he runs for re-election and tries for the first time to connect with Colorado voters.
“He's like how Barack Obama has been depicted, constant and confident,” said Lucia Guzman, a former Denver school board member who helped Bennet as he became superintendent. “He's a visionary, able to look far and wide and very deep into the issues at hand.”
At a Glance
Current Position: U.S. Senator (January 2009)
Career History: Denver Public School Superintendant (2005 to Jan. 2009); Chief of Staff in Denver mayor's office, John Hickenlooper (2003 to 2005); Managing Director and other various positions at Anschutz Investment Co. (1997 to 2003)
Birthday: N/A
Hometown: N/A
Alma Mater: Wesleyan University; J.D. at Yale University Law School, 1993
Spouse: Susan Daggett
Religion: N/A
DC Office: 702 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510; Phone: (202) 224-5852
State/District Office: Denver Metro Office 2300 15th St., Suite 450 Denver 80202; Phone: (303) 455-7600; Four Corners Office 835 East 2nd Avenue, Suite 203 Durango 81301; Phone: (970) 259-1710; Pikes Peak Office 409 North Tejon St., Suite 107 Colorado Springs 80903; Phone: (719) 328-1100; North Central Office 1200 South College Avenue, Suite 211 Fort Collins 80524; Phone: (970) 224-2200; High Plains Office 109 East Railroad Ave., #4 Fort Morgan 80701; Phone: (970) 542-9446; Northwest Colorado Office 225 North 5th Street, Suite 511 Grand Junction 81501; Phone: (970) 241-6631; Arkansas River Office 129 West B Street Pueblo 81003; Phone: (719) 542-7550; San Luis Valley Office 609 Main Street, Suite 110 Alamosa 81101; Phone: (719) 587-0096
Email
Web site
Path to Power
A graduate of Wesleyan University, where Bennet’s father became president in 1995 and served 12 years there, Bennet moved on to Yale law. He became editor of the Yale Law Journal.
After graduating in 1993, he became an assistant to former Ohio Gov. Richard Celeste (D). He worked as counsel to a deputy U.S. attorney general during the Clinton administration, and wrote some speeches for then-Attorney General Janet Reno.
By 1997, Bennet tired of practicing law and met with billionaire investor Philip Anschutz about a position within his investing firm. Despite not understanding how to read a balance sheet, Bennet was hired to a low-level position. Within six years, Bennet had worked his way up to a managing director. In 2001, he led the restructuring of four movie-chains into a single organization called Regal Entertainment Group — now the nation’s largest movie theater company.
In 2003, John Hickenlooper (D) decided to run for mayor of Denver, and he asked a fellow Wesleyan grad, Bennet, for help. During the campaign, Bennet worked as Hickenlooper’s economic adviser, and projected Denver’s budget shortfall to be $50 million. This number was far higher than the current mayor’s tally as well as other rival campaigns’ projections, but by the end of the election all candidates accepted Bennet’s analysis.
Hickenlooper won the mayoral race and named Bennet his chief of staff. While working under Hickenlooper, Bennet helped balance Denver’s budget and negotiated a gate-access truce between rival airlines at Denver International Airport.
In 2005, when the Denver Public Schools superintendant position opened, Bennet stepped into the difficult job without any experience dealing with education problems or reform.
The Issues
Bennet said he would serve as Denver school’s superintendent for five years. But a little more than three years after he took the job, Salazar was named Obama's interior secretary. Ritter was confronted with a long list of potential replacements that included Salazar’s brother and member of the House John Salazar (D-Colo.), as well as Bennet’s old boss, Hickenlooper.
Although considered a longshot, especially since he had never previously sought public office and would be up for election in 2010, Bennet received the nod. Despite his lack of experience, important allies have come to support the decision, including Salazar.
Employee Free Choice Act
Bennet has come under criticism for his stance on the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), and that's because he has not taken one. For months he has been one of the few Democrats who refuse to side with the party and pass the bill, which would make it easier for employees to unionize. But he also has not said he's against the measure as he tries to toe-the-line with labor and business constituents.
In April 2009, Bennet tried to deflect EFCA discussion by trying to convince voters that health care should not be stopped because labor and business have a disagreement over the status of EFCA. "Temperatures are running high on both sides of this. We need to make sure that no matter how this turns out ... that we've got all hands on deck working on health-care reform because this is the year to get that done," Bennet said.
Eight months into his term, Bennet has yet to take a stance on EFCA.
Education
When Bennet became Denver school superintendent, he faced a daunting task. Denver’s school system confronted common urban issues, including the fact that two-thirds of the district qualified for federal meal benefits and 20 percent of it was learning English as a second language. With 75 percent of the district identifying itself as Latino or black, any drastic changes could leave Bennet open to charges of racial insensitivity.
“If anything, it would end a political career before it starts,” said former Ohio Gov. Celeste, his former boss and now president of Colorado College, in 2005.
But Bennet shook off the political minefields, saying, “In the end it's less about the office you hold than what you can accomplish."
He acted quickly. A few months into the job, he released an 83-page report titled the ‘Denver Plan’ to overhaul the school district. It focused on curriculum changes, after-school programs and even nutrition. It not only pointed out problems with the district, but outlined how to repair them. For example, if non-English speaking students didn’t have enough time to actually learn the language, the plan called for 45 minutes more per day dedicated to reading comprehension. If a student struggled in math, he or she could use an extra subject slot to focus more on the problem area.
Manual High School
But early accolades for Bennet’s work soon turned to major controversy when he targeted for closure Manual High, a school with high minority attendance and one of the state school system’s biggest failures. Ninety percent of Manual students failed state writing tests and 97 percent failed state math tests. Only one-out-of-five freshman stayed long enough to graduate, despite national help from organizations like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Bennet closed the school in 2006 for one year, promising when it re-opened it would be ‘premiere.’ In 2007, Bennet kept his promise to re-open Manual, personally going door-to-door in order to sway students to return.
By 2008, some of the same critics who opposed the shutdown praised Bennet for his decisiveness. School scores in Denver are still not equal to state averages, but 2008’s School Accountability Report showed that 140 of 164 Denver school programs were improving at the same pace or faster than state averages. The school district’s budget was balanced without cutting programs, and enrollment grew to levels not reached in three decades. The turnaround nearly earned Bennet a nod as Obama’s secretary of education. When Bennet found out he didn’t get the nod, he was in a hall outside a DPS board meeting. He yelled: “I’m not going to Washington!”
He spoke too soon.
The Network
Bennet worked on the Barack Obama's 2008 campaign as an education adviser. He also co-hosted a fundraiser in Colorado for the then-candidate. He may have an ally in the press; his brother, James Bennet, is a former New York Times reporter who is now editor of The Atlantic Monthly. His father, Douglas, served for ten years as president and CEO of National Public Radio, a popular source of news for the capital’s political elite.
Bennet used to work at Anschutz Investment Co., where he was personally hired by billionaire owner, Philip Anshutz. He worked with Janet Reno, when she was President Bill Clinton’s attorney general. He also worked with former Ohio governor Richard Celeste.
Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter (D) appointed Bennet to the Senate, and Salazar signed off on the nomination. Bruce Benson, former president and owner of Benson Mineral Group and now Colorado University president, also praised the decision.
