Bravo also donated $750 to Arapahoe House and $1,000 to Phoenix Concepts, both drug-and-alcohol-treatment programs.
But all of that is pocket change compared with the amount Bravo has lavished on Freda Poundstone.
Poundstone is a well-known figure at the Capitol. According to a 1995 report, she was the state's eighth-best-compensated lobbyist from January through May of that year. A constitutional amendment limiting Denver's annexation powers bears her name, and in 1990 she lobbied hard and successfully to permit limited stakes gaming in Cripple Creek, Black Hawk and Central City.
In August 1990, Bravo added a provision to its articles of incorporation. Signed by Kevin Doyle, it pledged that "no substantial part of the activities of this corporation shall be the carrying on of propaganda, or otherwise attempting to influence legislation...(or to) participate in any political campaign on behalf of or against any candidate for public office."
Despite that commitment, in the past two years alone Bravo has written checks totaling $60,000 to Poundstone for "legislative consulting."
Although Poundstone lists Bravo as one of her clients on state lobbying disclosure forms, she doesn't mention Concerned Parents for Education. Through CPE, the Doyles have given Poundstone another $39,000 since 1995. And since early last year, Bravo has been making the $500 monthly payments on Poundstone's car; that, too, fails to appear on the lobbyist's disclosure forms. A spokeswoman for the secretary of state's Elections Division says a complaint would have to be filed against Poundstone in order for any sanctions to be levied against her for non-disclosure. So far, no such complaint has been filed.
"I have tried to figure out why the Doyles would donate as much money as they have to Freda Poundstone," Lambrecht says. "There's absolutely no bingo-related legislation going through right now, and I haven't seen anything in the past couple years, either. I've tried to look at it as, What's in it for them? And all I can figure is that their way of living is paid for through bingo."
Other critics see the payoff as coming through more lenient regulation by Buckley, culminating in her removal of the two bingo investigators from the Doyle case last month. That is a conclusion the secretary of state strongly disputes.
Buckley concedes that she knows Kevin Doyle from her early days working in the secretary of state's office, but she says she has not met with him for many years. And, while Buckley has known Poundstone since 1972, she says she hasn't been lobbied by her since she took office just over two years ago. "There hasn't been any bingo legislation," the secretary of state points out.
So why would a bingo-promoting organization pay Poundstone more than $100,000? "I can't comment on that one," Buckley says. "You'll have to ask her."
Poundstone isn't talking, but others are. "I would hope that Vicki wouldn't take [Ryan and Green] off this investigation because of her close ties to all this that's going on," says the Bingo Bugle's Bauerkemper. "But I just don't know.
"I think the Doyles are in bingo for their own personal gain," he adds. "Why would one family be so dedicated to working bingo seven nights a week?"
"It may not sound real," says Winnie Doyle. "But that's who we are.
