There was plenty of holiday spirit at the Leadership Program of the Rockies party on Thursday at the Wellshire Event Center in south Denver, where more than 150 supporters, alumnae and members of the current Class of 2015 talked liberty and founding principles over a sumptuous spread.

Helen Raleigh, who won the Defender of Capitalism award in her Leadership Program of the Rockies class two years ago, and Bryan Cutsinger, also a 2013 alum, enjoy the holiday party at the Wellshire Event Center on Dec. 11 in Denver. Raleigh recently published a book about her experience fleeing communism in China and discovering that principles, not the qualities of leaders, are the foundation of a free society.

The program, now in its 25th year, amounts to a rigorous, year-long education for conservative leaders with a thorough course that covers free enterprise, Constitutional principles, national defense, free speech and limited government.

Francoise Bergen and Shari Williams, president of the Leadership Program of the Rockies, greet attendees at LPR’s holiday party on Dec. 11 at the Wellshire Event Center.

“The issues we discuss and the instructors we fly in, they’re the best of the best,” said LPR chairman Bob Schaffer. Looking around the crowded room full of revelers, he added, “Everybody in the class is getting a refresher course in what they already know, and the academic content is pointed toward more activism and leadership in their community.”

Leadership Program of the Rockies alums Ann Pritzloff and Eric Weissmann, a former congressional candidate, say they firmed up their public policy foundations in the program at LPR’s holiday party on Dec. 11 at the Wellshire Event Center in Denver.

Although LPR graduates scored an eye-popping 27 wins at the ballot box this year, it’s not just about encouraging and empowering candidates, Schaffer noted, but also about what he calls “first followers, people who work on campaigns and issues and causes and believe in ideas about freedom and living in Colorado and prosperity and helping the poor get out of poverty and helping kids learn more in schools and helping the state become more prosperous economically.”

Ben Lyng and past state Senate candidate Larry Queen catch up at the Leadership Program of the Rockies holiday party on Dec. 11.

Arapahoe County District Attorney George Brauchler credits LPR with seeding the state with determined defenders of liberty in all walks of life.

“If you look around, and it doesn’t just have to be government, but if you look around this community, a lot of the leaders you see in this generation and the next are coming out of LPR,” he said. “My only regret is, I did not get a chance to go through this,” Brauchler said, noting that he runs into alumnae all the time.

Melanie Sturm of Aspen, who runs conservative communication training operation Engage to Win along with alumnae of the Leadership Program of the Rockies, and Broomfield GOP chairman Rick Fernandez, both current LPR class members, chat at the organization’s holiday party on Dec. 11 at the Wellshire Event Center.

“They’re not just elected representatives, but they’re administrative people, the lobbyists, people who work at nonprofits, the people who help get things done. It’s a real cross section of Colorado, a very diverse group,” he added, “except maybe ideologically.”

Jefferson County construction manager Dave Carpenter, who went through the LPR program last year, called it “a life-changing experience,” adding that “the connections we made, the focus on first principles, how to process any issue using those principles, has been great.”

His 2014 classmate Larimer County Treasurer-elect Irene Josey, who won election unopposed last month, said the LPR education made a big difference in her life.” It really opened up my eyes that you need to stay involved,” she said. “The speakers were great, the classmates were wonderful — it’s a whole new world.”

Past congressional candidate Eric Weissmann, who helped steer the organization for a few years after graduating with the Class of 2008, had effusive praise for LPR’s mission.

“It trains people in both the principles they need to apply and the skills to communicate those principles to people who are not spending all their time on these issues,” Weissmann said.

Leadership Program of the Rockies program coordinator Mitch Whitus, Steamboat Leadership Institute organizers Jennifer Schubert-Akin and Rick Akin and Routt County Treasurer Brita Horn enjoy the festivities at the LPR holiday party on Dec. 11 in Denver.

Those in the current class are “coming into a different environment” than Weissmann did when he graduated amid sweeping Democratic wins across the country.

“When I was in LPR, it was a devastating time — we were trying to figure out how to come from behind,” Weissmann said. “My advice would be, don’t get cocky. We have to support these principles every single day and we can’t rest on a bunch of great results in the last election.”

It’s a point Schaffer addressed, stressing that GOP wins don’t necessarily translate to government that embodies LPR principles.

District Attorney George Brauchler and Crystal Bouziden, Director of Operations with the Leadership Program of the Rockies and a graduate of the LPR Class of 2009, are among guests at LPR’s holiday party on Dec. 11 in Denver

Photos by Ernest Luning/The Colorado Statesman

“Some may come to the conclusion that conservatives have secured more seats in legislatures and in the Congress, but I don’t necessarily — and neither does the group here — equate Republicans with conservatives,” Schaffer told The Colorado Statesman. “There are probably more individuals who are aligned with the more centrist principles of smaller government, lower levels of spending, more individual autonomy and more individual responsibility, but to suggest that a Republican majority in Congress or the state Legislature is capable of representing those viewpoints — we know from history that Republicans, in terms of reliability the last several years, are spotty.”

It’s the job of LPR graduates and supporters, Schaffer said, to “hold anyone accountable who drifts away from the vision of the Founding Fathers. They’re almost always on the Democratic side of the aisle, but they’re often on the Republican side, as well. We don’t really care too much about party, we’re more interested in adherence to basic, central American principles.”

— Ernest@coloradostatesman.com

See the print edition of Dec. 12, 2014 for full photo coverage.