Denver Post Notes Keggers at Gov's Mansion; Party Label Missing

Denver Post Notes Keggers at Gov's Mansion; Party Label Missing

By Ken Shepherd (Bio | Archive)
May 16, 2008 - 15:16 ET

Riots in the street or no, Denver might be the place to be this August, if only for August Ritter's sweet Convention after-parties.

DenverPost.com has an article, complete with photos, delving into Gov. Bill Ritter's (D) son reveling with friends at a December 2007 boozefest in the Governor's Mansion. The only rules of said party, the Post noted citing an invitation, were "no throwing up" and "no sexy time."

The one thing lacking from reporter Karen Crummy's story: Gov. Ritter's political affiliation.

The party label is arguably germane to the story. After all Ritter spokesman Evan Dreyer defended August Ritter's revelry, which suggests Ritter has a cavalier attitude about his son's disregard of and disrespect for the taxpayer-owned mansion.:

"This is a family that lives in this residence," Dreyer said. "August is 22. He was very careful to invite only friends who were over 21. At his birthday, they had dinner, they had a pony keg (about 7.5 gallons), then they had a line of eight or 10 cabs that took them to LoDo to go dancing.

"Then they returned, and most, if not all, of them stayed at the residence. No one drove."

Dreyer said the governor's son was aware that his actions are bound to be watched by others at college or in the media, particularly anything he does in the taxpayer-funded mansion, which was largely unused by the Owens family.

"August does feel badly," Dreyer said. "Yes, he is of legal age, but he understands very clearly that the actions - his actions and the actions of his family - are scrutinized differently than others in the state."

—Ken Shepherd is Managing Editor of NewsBusters

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So wait is the reporter's

May 16, 2008 - 15:49 ET by tater

So wait is the reporter's name is Karen Crummy...or would it be better to say Karen's crummy story. I keed, I keed.

"They need to have a course in college called common sense and everyone should take it. Problem is there isn't too many people that could pass or teach it." -my grandfather

Unasked questions

May 16, 2008 - 16:12 ET by nkviking75

What is this, Clinton-era Arkansas?

This story raises more than a few questions which seem to have eluded Ms. Crummy.

1) Doesn't Ritter's family own a private residence?

2) Had something happened as a consequence of the kegger, would the state be liable?

3) Who cooked the dinner? Was it a state employee? Even if that's legal, is it appropriate?

4) Was Colorado's State Troopers (or State Patrol or whatever the appropriate name is) effectively providing security for a kegger?

5) If a Republican governor's son was an evangelical who invited friends over for Bible study, by what factor of multiplication would the resulting scandal dwarf this one in the MSM's eyes?

When you put the clowns in charge, don't be surprised when a circus breaks out.

I bet some troll will argue

May 16, 2008 - 16:26 ET by mattm

I bet some troll will argue that since it's his son, the party label is irrelevant. (Which it may or may not be)

But when our local sheriff's son was busted for dui, the local media made damn sure everyone knew he was a republican even thought the position of sheriff is designated "non-partisan." What a phony crock of beans that is.

We don't have a news media anymore. All we have is a Left-Wing propaganda machine which includes every conduit of information you can think of, and a few lonely outposts of reason.