Herman Malone, an African-American businessman and a Republican, was walking with a reporter from The Denver Post along the 16th Street Mall in Downtown Denver in 1999, basking in the spring sunshine and the victory of his candidate for governor that fall, Bill Owens.
Owens was the first Republican governor to serve the state in 24 years, and Malone said later he was hoping to see “a new direction” for state government, to the benefit of small business and especially minority-owned businesses.
The reporter – now the writer of this piece – reminded Malone that the turnover of Democrats and installation of Republicans in the various offices of the new administration could lead to wholesale changes in the way the State of Colorado operated. Owens would be appointing executive-level department heads in state government, making budget decisions, proposing new policy to the General Assembly – all from a far different political perspective than his predecessor, Democrat Roy Romer.
Owens’ conservative perspective dictates a “limited” role for government, yet no one knew at the start of his two terms what historic and economic events would also help shape and determine the new governor s legacy to the state.
Now, almost eight years later, yet before the election that would choose his replacement, Owens sat down with ColoradoBiz to discuss what he is leaving behind.
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