The image of Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper jumping from an airplane to push for Referendum C may have helped push the measure over the top, some political observers say.
Yet it was a commercial some inside the C and D camp never wanted you to see.
The advertisement dramatized the metaphor of state revenues in a free fall. It was fun to watch and starred a politician with amazing approval ratings – even outside Denver.
Sources familiar with the commercial confirm that some folks inside the Referendums C and D campaign were less than thrilled with showcasing the Denver mayor.
Indeed, the ad never went into heavy rotation on the airwaves, and wasn’t included in statewide advertising buys. (The Denver market, however, does stretch to all corners of the state.) However, with $7.5 million on hand, it couldn’t have hurt to run the ad on TV stations in Pueblo, a heavily Democratic city. Pueblo County just narrowly approved Ref C.
Speculation is that some Republicans inside the Ref C camp didn’t want Hickenlooper to get any more publicity than needed – especially since some still consider him to be a gubernatorial threat in 2006.
Owens, the businessman
For most of 2005, many on the Republican right have been sketching out Gov. Bill Owens‘ political obituary, given the fact he supported Referendum C.
Owens last week basically shrugged, saying he plans to work in the private sector after his term expires in January 2007. After years of public service, and now with college-age children, he wouldn’t mind making some serious cash.
As governor, he’s honed executive skills, and one adviser figures he’d do very well with a senior level management position at a major corporation.
He quipped: “I don’t think he wants to be lobbying [Sen.] Jim Isgar.”
Bruce moving on
Even after last week’s stinging defeat, TABOR author Douglas Bruce plans on continuing to be a thorn in the side of representative democracy.
Bruce, a fan of direct democracy, will play a behind-the-scenes role in next year’s push to reform Colorado’s petition laws, making it easier for citizens to petition government and make their own laws, such as his own Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights.
The Petition Rights Amendment can be viewed at www.pra2006.com. It would clear away some of the current hurdles to the initiative process and limit to 12 the number of measures passed by the state legislature that are off-limits to the initiative process.
The campaign will be led by political veterans Dennis Polhill and Douglas Campbell, but Bruce also is courting some unlikely bedfellows, such as Common Cause, to join the cause.
Death of vouchers?
If you think the more than $100,000 spent on the race for Denver Public Schools’ at-large seat, won by Jill Conrad, was excessive, don’t look south.
More than $700,000 was pumped into three races for the Colorado Springs District 11 board, including more than $400,000 from an education committee called RISE, Rally in Support of Education. It was largely funded by State Board of Education member Jared Polis, philanthropist Tim Gill and Pat Stryker, the quiet Fort Collins heiress who has shaken up Colorado politics the past three election cycles.
The school board race failed to attract headlines outside the Springs, but national education advocates saw it as a battleground over vouchers. RISE was part of an effort that helped defeat a slate of three pro-voucher candidates.
With Colorado’s previous voucher program derailed by a judge and Democrats strong at the statehouse, Springs voters delivered a mortal blow, for now anyway, to the state voucher movement.
Dan Haley (dhaley@denverpost.com. ) is a member of The Post’s editorial board.
