Romanoff bets trust fund on a primary win

In order to keep his campaign chugging until the Aug. 10 primary with a $325,000 loan, Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful Andrew Romanoff recently cashed out his Washington Park home to Denver's "King of Flips" in the real estate equivalent of a fire sale.

Though the house sold for $360,000, the deal netted Romanoff only about $225,000, according to campaign spokesman Roy Teicher.

That leaves a $100,000 gap between what he got out of his home and the amount he has loaned his campaign. Romanoff has said the balance came from personal savings. But $100 grand is no small sum for someone who tax records show earned barely a middle-class salary most of his adult life. Romanoff listed his checking account as having a balance between $15,000 and $50,000 in his December 2009 financial disclosure report to the Senate ethics committee.

It turns out that Romanoff has also cashed out a trust fund to span the difference. "It's safe to say that I've liquidated most of the assets available to me," Romanoff says. "My house is the lion’s share of it."

Romanoff declines to delve into details on the sale of these other assets.     – More -