Douglas Bruce arrived in Denver on Tuesday night like a conquering hero but left defeated, having seen voters suspend a key provision of his Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights.
The author of the 1992 TABOR amendment came up from Colorado Springs with a prop wrapped in paper that he ultimately refused to unveil. As it became clear that Referendum C had passed and that the opposition-campaign event at the Jackson’s Hole sports bar in Lower Downtown would not be a victory celebration, his mood clearly sank.
Walking into the bar, he asked the crowd who would be willing to buy him a drink. The 100 or so people there shouted their support. Someone gave him a basket of French fries.
But the cheering fell away a couple of hours later as the votes for Referendum C came in.
Eventually, Bruce was sitting alone, his mystery prop beside him. He did not seem buoyed by the prospect that companion measure Referendum D had not yet been decided.
He accused the proponent campaign, including Gov. Bill Owens, of scaring voters into handing over billions of dollars with false promises of dire shortfalls if C failed.
“I thought that people would not fall for the scare tactics,” he said. “I guess I gave them too much credit.”
Referendum C will result in a five-year suspension of TABOR refunds – which Bruce says will spell the total nullification of TABOR’s fiscal controls on state government.
He said Tuesday afternoon that he had prepared a short victory speech that would involve a prop he had bought that afternoon at Wal-Mart after voting, calling in to a couple of talk-radio programs and planting 50 yard signs.
“I believe in television, so it’s not just going to be a talking- head situation,” he said then. “That’s assuming we’ll have a victory statement to make. I obviously will not be seeking the camera if the taxpayers lose.”
And he didn’t.
As for Jon Caldara, president of the Independence Institute think tank and the most visible leader of the opposition campaign, he was not surprised by his loss Tuesday, he said. But he said he still hoped to prevail on Referendum D, which received much less support and teetered on the brink late Tuesday.
“I’ll take that half loaf rather than no loaf at all,” he said.
About 10 p.m., when the loss on C was clear, he pulled out a bar stool and stood on it to address the crowd.
“The entire political infrastructure was against the taxpayer tonight,” he said. “We stood up to them, and we ought to be damned proud of that.”
The crowd cheered, and he pointed out how well the final night of the campaign fit the narrative he had been crafting for months. The proponents, he said, were celebrating in the swanky Pinnacle Club downtown.
“Our campaign paid 25 bucks so we could be at this sports bar, where the real people hang out!” he said.
Staff writer Jim Hughes can be reached at 303-820-1244 or jhughes@denverpost.com.
