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July 30, 2005 08:00 AM UTC

Marc Holtzman Smells Blood

  • 23 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

In today’s Rocky Mountain News, GOP gubernatorial candidate Marc Holtzman sank his teeth into the red meat that is Bob Beauprez’s waffling on Referenda C&D:

Ronald Reagan loved the tale of the emperor who had no clothes – the classic story of a leader who becomes so enamored of the latest fashion that he is duped into prancing naked in the public square.

The Gipper’s love for this story came to mind when I picked up the Colorado Springs Gazette on May 23 and read U.S. Rep. Bob Beauprez’s statement about Referendums C and D…

Colorado’s future prosperity depends on our defeating this massive tax increase. As a candidate for governor, I will lead the fight to defeat C and D. It is the only way to make the Colorado taxpayer the winner this November.

Beauprez has since indicated he would oppose C if he “had to vote today,” but that’s hardly the sort of strong leadership on this issue that Coloradans should expect.

Whatever the eventual impact on next year’s race, Holtzman is certainly making no apologies about TABOR as his defining issue this year — much to Beauprez’s unsteady displeasure.

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23 thoughts on “Marc Holtzman Smells Blood”

  1. Marc Holtzman had better be careful because he was similarly noncommital on C and D during the exact same time as he now critizes BB for doing the same.  Marc believes all he has to do is win the primary and he will destroy the Party if that is what it takes to win..though he would then lose the general in a landslide.  That, not quite coincidentally, is what this blog and its three Dems hopes for…

  3. kinda like Holtzman being for Referendum A before he was against it…talk about a guy that waffles!  Maybe the BB people need to take a look at all of Holtzman’s no interest loans he got from the feds to start his own bank make millions in Eastern Europe.  The Holtzman dirt is far and wide and now that he is finally running I for one hope he is exposed as well he should be.

  4. I am glad to see Holtzman take so strongly the incompetent position on C&D.  The days of the Republican Party feeding its wealthy base through plutocratic directives are rapidly ending.

    Katy Atkinson will soon be removed as the General of the pro C&D campaign and replaced with someone who can effectively communicate the democratic (small ‘D’) notion that government should be able to afford the most basic of stable physical and governmental infrastructure to the people it serves.

    Opposing C&D is too easily painted as heartless, gutless, and in the end detrimental to the good of  the society as a whole.

  5. I like Katy – worked with her in the Benson race – and she’s always impressed me. If she’s really leaving, then it’s their loss.

  6. MH must have read Beauprez’s impressive policy piece on CAFTA last week and demanded his own op-ed. Too bad he burned the opportunity with months-old talking points… Time to update those talkers, Dirk!

  7. Holtzman has decided that he can ride opposition to C & D to name recognition, a primary win and a victory in November 2006.

    Now that he has accurately outlined the broad issues in the campaign against C&D, I’d like him to use his experience and expertise to tackle the issues that C&D proponents are counting on to carry them to victory.

    1. As a former president of the University of Denver, a nominee for president of CSU, an investment banker, a business owner, a member of Owens’ cabinent and a politician, I’d like to see him outline his ideas about how a governor can help turn around CU, CSU, Mines and the community colleges. What’s the strategic vision for these institutions, and how can a governor influence the boards of trustees, administrators and faculties who have to change the ways they are doing business?

    2. Holtzman and Beauprez are travelling the roads of Colorado. Given the input of billions of new federal dollars under the highways legislation passed by Congress last week, are our roads in such bad shape that we need C & D? Having driven many of those roads myself lately, I have to say that they’re in good shape. The only people who think they need work are the contractors who want to line their pockets with taxpayers’ dollars.

    3. C & D proponents seem to have written benefits into their proposals for every special interest in the state. Read their spending plans and all you can think of is the Clinton Healthcare plan. The Clinton plan went down to defeat because the public didn’t want to give the Democrats the power to use health care dollars to buy votes for generations to come. Similarly, the C&D promises read like a porkers’ delight, a menu written to buy votes from all corners and special interests of the state. In short, the lobbyists working for state contractors and vendors have come up with a plan designed to fool voters into giving them $3 billion, $5 billion or more, which would be a tremendous return on investment on a $1 million campaign.

    So the C&D proponents are Democrats with dollar signs in their eyes. They see dollars for the special interests and dollars for the Democrats’ campaign coffers.

    What does Owens see in all of this? A big job with a trade association after he leaves office?

    Why are the states newspapers and city councils jumping on the C&D bandwagon?

    Newspapers depend on advertising from real estate developers. Both the papers and the developers depend on the continued growth of the state’s population to generate revenues and profits. Neither care a whit about the quality of life in Colorado nor the taxpayer. Further, liberal, economically illiterate editorial writers have bought the C&D lines on the need for more money for higher education, roads and even K-12 without even being taken out for coffee.

    Newspaper editorial writers and members of numerous county boards, school boards and city councils are natural tax and spend Democrats, and we’re seeing it big time in this campaign. Their support for C&D is a disgrace and will be hard to overcome.

    But the voters know when their pockets are being picked, and C&D can be defeated if Holtzman decides to pour a lot of money into a campaign against them. Even if C&D win, Holtzman will wind up with name recognition, the applause of Republican primary voters and momentum for the general elections.

    So, Bob Beauprez, the ball’s in your court. You’ve got a clever opponent who has a plan to steal the primary out from under your nose.

    Don

  8. Anyone hear Tom Tancredo explain why he was opposed to CAFTA? Somthing about page after page of immigration policy aimed at an open door policy…

  9. Donald E.L. Johnson,

    Mines doesn’t need fixing. It’s the only school in this state worth a shit. It, not CU, is the state’s flagship university.

  10. Donald Johnson—Do you think anyone involved in politics ever does the right thing simply because it is right?  Reading your blog everything is about greed-newspapers, chambers, real estate–nothing assumes anyone simply tries to do what is right for Colorado.  Maybe that is the way you operate, but I don’t believe that is what drives most Republicans.  Do you ever take a political position except as it concerns your personal benefit?  What bothers me about your post is that you seem to assume Marc Holtzman is doing this just for short term political gain–and I fear you are right.

  11. ColoradoCares,

    Yes, I think people sometimes do what they think is right in politics, but I also am realistic and believe that we’re all economically driven, and most politicians and contributors put their money where their personal interests are. To me, C&D proponents are all in it for the money. Opponents start with a philosophical believe that taxes cost jobs, enrich politicians and corrupt contributors, but they also have economic and political interests.

    In this debate, the money hardly matters to me. The politics hardly matter to me. The principles matter a lot. I hate it when special interests and politicians put their pocketbooks and careers ahead of the interests of taxpayers, and that’s what I see in the proponents of C&D.

    No offense intended, but it happens.

    Don

  12. No offence taken–it is jst that I believe lots of time people on our side of the aisle..and I am a Republican..do what is right for the right reasons.  I don’t believe, for example, that ronald Reagan or George Bush cut taxes for their own bottom lines.  I also believe there is a legitimate reason other than greed that motivates most of those, including many Republicans, who support C and D.

  13. Don…

    I have had over the years the same cynical attitude but think I’m getting over it.  I thought people only wanted to satisfy their own self interest.  I still believe that is sometimes the case but I also believe people of all stripes do some things because they are the right things to do. 

    Supporting C & D is the right thing to do even if it satisfies some special interests.  I want a strong Colorado with good schools (K-college), a diverse economy, a comprehensive transportation system, excellent affordable healthcare , and effective and efficient county and local government(the best government is that which is closest to the people).  I’m a senior citizen with much of my savings in my house.  I want all the things I mentioned because they will help keep my “investment” viable and valuable as I advance into my golden years. 

    I don’t want to spend my remaning years as a Wal-Mart greeter.  Colorado is not the strong, live and let live place I’ve loved all these years.  I want it to be that place again.  I am truely ashamed at what my former party did to its once vibrant, even cocky, attitude.

    So, I’m for C & D.  I’m hoping the $50 dollars I would get back next year can go to re-establish all the secure infrastructure needed to protect and cause my lifetime investment to prosper.  C & D is the right thing to do for the right reasons—it helps folks, some like me, have a better life.  Not politicians; not special interests but people.  And, if you count me as a special interst, so be it.

  14. Notacynic,

    I think it is important to point out what motivates a lot of supporters of C&D, if not all of them. Certainly, there are people who believe C&D would be good for the state, but I think they’re badly mistaken.

    There is no evidence that a state that has seen its budget go from somethink like $10 billion in 1999 or 2000 to over $15 billion this year is hurting. I see tons of road projects, I drive on good roads everywhere I go in the state, and I think there is plenty of room for improving operations, quality and cost effectiveness in our schools. I also believe increasing taxes slows the economy and depresses employment.

    C&D is a huge tax increase that is not needed, but is badly wanted by those who would profit from it, pure and simple.

    Don

  16. That’s going to be a bit limiting…

    As Chair of a GOP committee, you probably shouldn’t be supporting anyone until after the primary.  At least that’s the way it’s supposed to work in the Democratic Party…

  18. I think instead of Coloradopols, this site should be called establishmentpols.  Can any of you think to put the country and state first over party?

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