Sep 14, 2007  |  By: KATHERINE VOLIN  | COMMENTS     

Gay money is oozing out of Colorado’s political pores these days. Tim Gill, a gay Denver-based software mogul, began directing millions of dollars to gay candidates and issues through the Gill Foundation in the late 1990s. And then there’s Jared Polis, who made his money by creating a web site, Blue Mountain Arts, for his parents’ company, Blue Mountain Cards, and other business ventures.

“I think it’s had a profound impact in Colorado,” Polis says about his and Gill’s financial contributions to gay-friendly politicians. “We’ve elected state legislative majorities that are friendly on LGBT issues. We’ve moved the ball forward and helped [remove] some of the most anti-gay members of our legislature.”
But now Polis is ready to take a more active hand in politics. His latest venture is running for an open U.S. House of Representatives seat in Colorado’s 2nd District.

“When I had the opportunity to run for Congress, I decided that was the most effective way to focus on creating national change on the issues that the voters … and I care about,” Polis says.

At 32, Polis has the resume of a much older man. In addition to successfully creating and then selling an Internet service company in 1998 for a reported $22 million and the Blue Mountain Arts web site in 1999 for about $780 million, Polis also founded two education-based non-profits and served as chair of the Colorado state school board. He currently works as superintendent at New America School, which helps new immigrants ease into American educational systems.

He will resign from that job next month to focus on his campaign.

“I love all the things that I’ve been active with in life. I love starting new businesses, I love starting schools and the non-profit world, but I feel that a lot of the issues that our nation faces need to be tackled at the federal level,” he says.

POLIS CERTAINLY HAS the resources to finance a House race. He started his campaign with $155,000 of his own seed money and hopes to raise $2 million in time for the Aug. 5, 2008 primary. Just last week, he was in Washington, D.C., for a fundraiser at Halo.

In 2004, Fortune estimated his net worth at $160 million, placing him right in between tennis great Andre Agassi and racecar driver Jeff Gordon. His fortune has since been estimated somewhere around that figure, though since 2004 he’s sold Provide Commerce, which is best known for its web site, ProFlowers.com, an online floral business, for a reported $477 million, according to the Wall Street Journal.

“Money is to politics sort of what water is to life,” says Denis Dison, spokesperson for the Victory Fund, which provides support to gay political candidates. “You absolutely have to have it, but it is not everything. I think that’s a really important point. You still have to have a candidate who is prepared and has a plan to spend money well. You can have $2 million in a war chest and spend it on buttons.”

The Victory Fund has not yet endorsed Polis’ candidacy, but his high-profile campaign is the sort that usually captures the board’s attention, Dison says. He adds that although the movement from school board to House of Representatives might seem like a big step, it’s not a terribly far distance for a candidate to travel.

“There are people who are elected to the U.S. Congress who don’t have very much experience at all,” he says. “The House, you have less of an issue there. But I think having won a statewide race gives Jared an advantage in understanding politics.”

THE ELECTION IS STILL a year away, with the Democratic primary being the difficult round to win in the liberal Boulder area that constitutes Colorado’s 2nd District. The current representative, Mark Udall, is running for the state’s open U.S. Senate seat.

On the surface, Colorado may appear an unlikely state for an out candidate to find success.

“This is the state of Focus on the Family, the state of Marilyn Musgrave, the author of the Federal Marriage Amendment, the state of Amendment Two,” Polis says. Amendment Two was passed by Colorado in 1992 and prohibited the state and any of its cities from enacting legislation that would protect gay rights. “Yet we have the opportunity to elect not only Colorado’s first openly gay member of Congress, but the first openly gay man ...