Gov. Bill Ritter may have felt a little like the Old Testament prophet
Daniel entering the lions’ den last week when he took the podium of the
annual legislative luncheon held by the Colorado Association of Commerce and
Industry, a chamber of commerce for statewide business interests.
Ritter had sought and gotten strong support from the state’s usually
conservative business community during his 2006 campaign – generally because
Ritter, unlike his opponent Bob Beauprez, supported Referendum C in 2005,
and he made a point of Beauprez’s opposition during the campaign. The
constitutional amendment is now seen as a financial savior of the state’s
financial condition, a legitimate concern of business.
Although plenty of conservative business people backed Beauprez, much of the
business community claims now to have voted for Ritter, and many business
people must have actually done so because the former Denver district
attorney beat former congressman Beauprez handily.
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