U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet has learned a lot after 20 years in the Senate. 

He is an accomplished dancer — at the old Washington, D.C., two-step of saying one thing but doing another.  Do what I say, not what I do. 

Bennet has piously and self-righteously declared he does not seek nor accept corporate contributions for his campaign for governor.  For one thing, corporate contributions to state campaigns are illegal under state finance laws, so let’s hear it for Bennet that he pledges to obey the law. 

But Bennet knows that under those same laws an outside campaign super PAC that exists solely to support his campaign for governor can accept unlimited contributions from corporate interests.  And Bennet’s supporters have enthusiastically embraced this campaign finance loophole with breathtaking hypocrisy. 

Bennet’s state super PAC, “Rocky Mountain Way,” has now accepted a total of $2.5 million from one billionaire corporate mogul from New York City, Michael Bloomberg.  “Rocky Mountain Way” had $4.6 million in the bank as of April 30, so Bloomberg’s corporate contribution of $2.5 million represents more than half of that number. 

Bloomberg is worth more than $109 billion so there is no limit to how much more he might contribute during the final month of the primary campaign.  $2.5 million is chump change to Bloomberg. 

Bennet will argue that billionaire corporate mogul Bloomberg’s $2.5 million is a personal contribution — which does not meet the laugh test. 

Beyond the rank hypocrisy of declaring his corporate contribution virginity while taking the corporate money elsewhere, Bennet lodged an attack last week against his Democratic opponent, Attorney General Phil Weiser, accusing him of running a negative ad funded by “private equity execs.” 

And poor Bennet whined that he could be “drowned out on the airwaves” by these Weiser ads.  Really? 

To be sure, Weiser has his own outside super PAC called “Fighting for Colorado,” which is also raising money from corporate interests, but Weiser doesn’t have a benevolent billionaire patron like Bloomberg. 

Adding to the hypocrisy, Bennet became a very wealthy man while working for a respected Colorado corporation before he was appointed to the Senate in 2009. 

Apparently, the evils of corporate America only apply to those corporate interests that have not directly benefited Bennet personally and politically. 

Bennet’s hypocrisy starkly shows the stupidity of campaign finance laws, both state and federal, that severely restrict the ability of candidates and campaigns to raise money while allowing “outside” groups to raise unlimited amounts from virtually any entity. 

But don’t expect incumbent elected officials like Bennet to ever have the courage to eliminate those unworkable and unfair limits on campaigns.  They benefit too much from those laws that allow unlimited corporate contributions to outside groups while restricting the campaigns of their opponents. 

Dick Wadhams is a former Colorado Republican state chairman who managed campaigns for U.S. Sens. Hank Brown and Wayne Allard, and Gov. Bill Owens.  He was campaign manager for U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota in 2004 when Thune unseated Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle.