Company officials bankroll both sides of electoral-vote issue

The Denver Post ^ | 9/29/04 | Susan Greene

[mondoman]

Wednesday, September 29, 2004 - Key figures in the company that owns the University of Phoenix are bankrolling opposing sides of a state ballot issue that could radically change the way Colorado and the nation elect the president.

At the urging of Gov. Bill Owens, the Arizona-based Apollo Group gave $100,000 this week to Coloradans Against a Really Stupid Idea. The contribution is by far the biggest yet to the committee, which so far has raised $125,000 to fight a measure that would end the winner-take-all rules for apportioning Colorado's Electoral College votes.

Supporters of the initiative - Amendment 36 on the November ballot - have snagged $698,000 in backing from J. Jorge Klor de Alva, the former president of the University of Phoenix, the largest private, accredited university in the nation.

Klor de Alva now heads a university in Brazil run by an offshoot of the Apollo Group. He is a longtime associate of the Apollo Group and University of Phoenix founder John Sperling, an avid supporter of Electoral College change whose family still owns about 24 percent of the $1.3 billion company.

An 83-year-old billionaire and Democratic donor from Phoenix, Sperling wrote the forthcoming "The Great Divide: Retro vs. Metro America." The widely publicized book blasts the Electoral College system as outdated and unduly favoring small states.

The book argues for changing the vote count from winner- take-all to a proportional, one- person, one-vote system. Those ideas reflect the changes sought by Amendment 36, the most ambitious Electoral College revamping yet in the nation.

If approved by voters, the amendment would affect this year's choice for president by immediately dividing Colorado's Electoral College votes proportionally as a percentage of the statewide popular vote rather than casting all nine for the biggest vote-getter.

The amendment's Democratic backers - and their wealthy donors - picked Colorado because state law makes it easy to float ballot initiatives here. Also, the state's slight GOP lean could mean a win for President Bush under Colorado's current system of picking electors. If Amendment 36 passes, Democrat John Kerry could grab several of the state's nine electoral votes even if he loses the popular vote.

Opponents deride the measure as a Democratic scheme to dilute GOP votes that would render Colorado less relevant in future presidential campaigns.

Neither Klor de Alva nor Sperling returned phone calls Tuesday about their interest in Colorado's electoral votes.

Both are listed as directors of Apollo International, an offshoot of the Apollo Group that runs adult education programs internationally, including in Brazil. Sperling resigned in June as chairman of Apollo Group to quell investors' worries about the future of the company should anything happen to him.

Rick Ridder, the Denver Democratic consultant who heads the pro-Amendment 36 effort, has given mixed messages about who's funding his campaign. In June, he said Klor de Alva was joined by "a group of other unnamed donors." Ridder would not disclose the names of the other contributors, who he said have been involved in several political issues, including the movement to legalize marijuana use for medical reasons.

Sperling, a former labor organizer and San Jose State University humanities professor, supports legalizing marijuana as well as genetic cloning and anti-aging research.

This week, Ridder said Klor de Alva alone has anted up 99 percent of Amendment 36's $700,000 in contributions so far but said the campaign has "had some talks with Sperling's people."

"But I can't talk about the details," he added.

For their part, Apollo Group executives would not explain Tuesday why the Arizona company so actively opposes a Colorado ballot measure that seeks changes that its founder supports so ardently in his book.

"Apollo Group does make political donations when there is an important issue we would like to support, and our interest in the state of Colorado is due to our many years of doing business there," chief executive Todd Nelson said through a company spokeswoman.

Some 4,708 students attend the University of Phoenix's nine learning centers in Colorado. The company is authorized to do business in the state by the Colorado Commission on Higher Education, whose members are appointed by Owens. It was first sanctioned in 1981 and is reviewed annually by the commission.

Owens, a Republican, is raising money and campaigning against Amendment 36.

"This is a naked partisan attempt to throw four electoral votes in John Kerry's pot and being done by people who care not a whit about Colorado," said Sean Duffy, deputy chief of staff for Owens, who did not return phone calls Tuesday.

Owens said earlier this month that he had spoken with the current president of Apollo about Electoral College reform.

Asked about the contribution to oppose the amendment, Duffy said the governor "made the inquiry to Apollo Group, and it was productive."

Aside from the $100,000 from Apollo, Owens' Coloradans Against a Really Stupid Idea has raised $25,000 from nursing- home executive and GOP donor Ralph Nagel.

Duffy said Tuesday that he assumes "there's involvement ... and coordination" between Klor de Alva and Sperling in pushing the amendment.

"It certainly strikes everybody extremely interesting that this sort of effort has been embraced by Mr. Sperling," he said. "That's why I think that there needs to be much more sunshine into who's really behind Amendment 36."

[mondoman]

We need to keep this stealth issue in the national limelight.