There are “A list” celebrities and “B list” celebrities, but in Colorado, we’ve been overrun with “C and D” celebrities. The nasty battle over the two referendums has embroiled a boatload of boldface names. Among them:
Gov. Bill Owens: Stiff in the proponents’ first television ad, he had that deer-in-the headlights look. It took him years to decide TABOR has a “glitch,” and at first it seemed he hadn’t quite convinced himself. He got more engaged – and angry and effective – as the election got closer. An unapologetic conservative, he’s risking a lot to go against the right wing of his party.
Jon Caldara: The nattily bearded face of the opposition, the president of the free-market Independence Institute is always witty, quick with a quip, glib with a skewer. He also exaggerated bald-facedly about lost refunds, increased taxes, even money squandered on arty dildos. But he was unflinchingly loyal to his hyperbole, even in the face of strong evidence to the contrary.
House Speaker Andrew Romanoff: Looks barely old enough to drink legally, but has every reason to. The Denver Democrat, who’s actually 39, got the ball rolling for TABOR reform last year with a simple idea: cut the income tax rate and let the state keep all the resulting revenue. Nah, too simple. Like so many things legislative, it got complicated and harder to explain, but Romanoff has been making the rounds trying to do just that.
John Andrews: He’s in a virtual tie with Caldara at the head of the anti-tax, anorexic-government forces. Like Caldara, he’s smart, funny, occasionally charming but never accommodating. And he has great street cred on the right. What else would you expect from the former president of the Colorado Senate and founder of the Independence Institute?
Douglas Bruce: Speaking of charm … well, we can stop speaking of charm. The ever-abrasive author of TABOR was not as big a presence as one might expect. The new El Paso County commissioner may be preoccupied with his work as a virus, infesting the government he would like to enfeeble. His debate with the governor, though, was perhaps the campaign’s biggest event.
Sen. Ken Gordon: Like Frodo, the Hobbit, he led hundreds of C and D supporters on a trek down the Front Range, seeking a sort of spiritual/fiscal relief. He and his horde didn’t get as much attention as they might have wished. But the Denver Democrat’s e-mail dispatches were always an entertaining read.
Sen. Norma Anderson: One of a handful of Republican legislators visibly supporting the referendums, she can always be counted on to state what should be obvious – that Colorado is a low-tax state, for example, mostly because Republicans have been in charge of the legislature for 40 of the past 41 years. It may no longer be true in Washington, but in Colorado, the GOP is hardly the party of runaway spending.
Hank Brown: Sober, silver-haired spokesman for keeping higher education affordable. The CU president’s message, while still intended to alarm, at least marked a refreshing change from the dark, defensive and often disingenuous early TV campaign.
Jumpin’ John Hickenlooper: After frank and sober Hank, the relentlessly popular Denver mayor jumped out of a plane – in tandem with an electronically erased instructor – and into a madcap new twist for electioneering.
Dick Armey: Speaking of parachuting … the former House majority leader, together with Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform, dropped in from D.C. now and then to lead the invasion of non-resident scolds. Easy for them; they don’t have to live with the consequences.
But Marc Holtzman does, or would if his long-shot campaign for governor succeeds. He’s wooing Republicans for whom any tax is too much, and has ripped his primary opponent, Bob Beauprez, for not being as agitated as he is. But if he manages to ride this ploy to victory, he’ll inherit a fiscal mess.
Hurricane Katrina: An ill wind for the proponents, the storm showed just how inept government can be.
Fred Brown is retired state Capitol bureau chief for The Denver Post.
