Trinidad – The trekkers – with a police escort of flashing red and blue lights that slowed traffic – wended their way through the streets of this small town near the New Mexico border.
For five weeks, a small band of politicians and supporters had tramped across Colorado to win converts to Referendums C and D – the measures on the November ballot aimed at easing the state’s cash crunch.
The trek had begun near the Wyoming border, and some 389 miles later, the group finished the last 16 miles to the New Mexico line Sunday.
Motorists stuck in traffic behind the 14-mile march Saturday were less than thrilled.
“I got places to go,” said Joe Febbraro, cigarette dangling from his lips, as he sat in his pickup with a rifle leaning against the passenger seat.
Febbraro said he hadn’t decided how he was going to vote, but slowing traffic to crawl wasn’t edging him toward a “yes.”
Voters will decide Nov. 1 whether to let the state keep an estimated $3.7 billion in revenue over five years that would otherwise be refunded to taxpayers so it can be used for education, health care and roads.
While the group walked, members were often stalked by a giant, wooden horse with a counter-message: Referendum C is a “Trojan- horse tax increase.”
Tom Keller is the horse’s “jockey,” which means he’s the guy who pulls the 12-foot-high metaphor across the state on a trailer.
He was there Saturday parked next to a barbecue that supporters were holding to “let people know that … this is being sold to the public as not being a tax increase, when in fact, it’s about a $4 billion tax increase,” he said.
And once along the way, Keller was joined by “Suzie the Special Interest Swine” – a propane tank painted pink with a papier-mâché head designed by opponents to remind voters of the special-interest groups feeding at the government trough.
Keller wasn’t around Saturday morning when Senate Majority Leader Ken Gordon and three campaign workers emerged from their tents at the Las Animas County Fairgrounds. From there, Gordon and another dozen or so volunteers made their way through town, stopping long enough to give people they saw a pamphlet and asking for their support.
Rose Marie Smith and her husband, Carl, came outside when they saw the supporters – decked out in matching blue and white T-shirts with phrases such as “education,” “health care” and “roads and bridges” emblazoned on them – coming down the middle of the street.
“Sometimes, I think that it helps out more than TV does,” Carl Smith said about the campaign by foot.
Both sides agreed that connecting with voters in the community is more effective than the barrage of ads they see on television.
“If they see people are willing to walk these long distances, they might think it’s important,” Gordon said.
Cliff Kitchen was hauling water to his ranch in Trinchera, and the third time he passed the group, he stopped to ask what they were doing.
Tired of the political ads, Kitchen was ready to vote “no,” he said. “But after seeing the devotion and dedication and talking to these people, I’m going to have to vote ‘yes.”‘
Gordon did not walk the entire trip. The only person who walked every mile is campaign volunteer Jenn Berg.
When Gordon and his crew came to the edge of town about an hour after leaving the fairgrounds, the local volunteers jumped on the sag wagon and rode back to their cars.
Gordon and his campaign staffers were left to tackle the lonely dirt road, dotted with bullet- riddled road signs, alone.
Staff writer Chris Frates can be reached at 303-820-1633 or cfrates@denverpost.com.
