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

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."