Denver – Republican Marc Holtzman said today he was setting aside his gubernatorial ambitions to campaign against a measure on the November ballot, then conceded he used a poor choice of words and had no plans to stop campaigning.
Holtzman, former president of the University of Denver and once a member of Gov. Bill Owens’ Cabinet, said he sent a letter to his potential 2006 GOP primary opponent, Rep. Bob Beauprez, asking him to “put politics aside for the next few months and stand shoulder to shoulder against this tax grab.” “Please stand with me and the working families of Colorado, setting our aside gubernatorial ambitions, so that together we can present a united front to oppose C and D’s liberal tax-and-spend assault on working Coloradans,” Holtzman told Beauprez.
Holtzman later said he will continue campaigning full time for governor and was only trying to provoke Beauprez into taking a stand on Referenda C and D, ballot measures that ask voters to give up $3.6 billion in surplus tax refunds over the next five years.
“I think he’s trying to dance around this issue and I’m trying to get him to stand up and firmly take a position with me together,” Holtzman said. “I perhaps could have used a better choice of words.” In his letter, Holtzman said he does not want to be remembered as the governor whose first term was defined by the largest tax increase in Colorado history. He told Beauprez he was “choosing today to shift my focus away from my gubernatorial campaign in order to devote my energy where it is needed most at this critical hour, to ensuring the defeat of Referenda C and D this November.” Beauprez spokesman John Marshall said Beauprez is not basing his campaign around Holtzman and will continue to represent his district in Congress and run for governor.
“This is part of a larger pattern with Marc Holtzman. He’s done this before. Is he in this thing or not?” Marshall said.
The seat is open because Owens is term-limited. Owens is backing Beauprez to be his successor.
Both Republicans have a commanding lead in fund-raising.
Holtzman reported that he raised $802,600, including thousands of dollars from the high-powered friends made when he worked in eastern Europe and Russia, where he founded an investment bank, while Beauprez, also a former banker, said his contributors helped him raise $516,000.
Democrat Bill Ritter, a former Denver District Attorney, said he raised more than $164,000 for his primary while his opponent, Rutt Bridges, a businessman and founder of the Bighorn Center think tank, has raised more than $131,000.
