Ten Years Ago this week in The Colorado Statesman … “Friends, how sweet it is,” said Gov. Bill Owens at the election night party celebrating the come-from-behind passage of Referendum C, a measure to lift TABOR restrictions on state revenue for five years. (A companion ballot measure to provide transportation funding, Ref D, failed narrowly.) “I believe this is the only time in my memory that Republicans and Democrats have been celebrating in the same room, on the same night, the same victory,” Owens said. “I believe tonight’s election is going to be a defining night in Colorado’s history.”

The Pinnacle Club was packed with luminaries from both sides of the aisle — Owens took the stage to celebrate along with Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald, D-Coal Creek Canyon, state Sen. Norma Anderson, R-Lakewood, House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver, and Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce President Joe Blake — to cheer the result of a broad coalition that counted more than 1,000 organizations and cut across the usual divides. Bruce Benson, Colorado’s preeminent Republican fundraiser, stood alongside fellow campaign co-chair former CSU President Al Yates, who worked for Pat Stryker, one of the top Democratic fundraisers in the state. Democratic strategist Rick Reiter ran the $7.6 million campaign with the help of Republican media whiz Walt Klein and pollster David Hill. Owens said he was confident the rift in the Republican Party over the measure could be resolved. “We’ll work it out between us,” he said, referring to House Minority Leader Joe Stengel, R-Littleton, who initially supported the referenda but later changed his mind and campaigned against them. Owens maintained that his own conservative credentials remained intact. “I had to address this crisis. As leader of the state, I had to do what I had to do.” …

… At few blocks away, at Lodo’s Jackson’s Hole, the opponents of Refs C and D cheered their partial win as D went down. “At the very least, we would have killed at least half the beast if not all of it,” said Jon Caldara, president of the Independence Institute, a leading figure in the fight against the ballot measures. “If we didn’t put up this fight,” he said, Ref C “would have passed easily. And we made it a real battle.” Stengel said he’d work to make sure that whatever the voters decided would be carried out. He added that he would “make sure that money doesn’t go to transportation, because (voters) clearly said tonight that transportation wasn’t a concern” by rejecting Ref D. Caldara couldn’t resist getting in a jab at his foes. “That’s the difference here,” he said. “On the other side, they’re at a swanky private country club on the top of a skyscraper. Here, the working people have to buy their own beer.”…

… Meanwhile, Republican gubernatorial candidates Bob Beauprez and Marc Holtzman didn’t miss a chance to attack each other over the results. Although both opposed the measures, Holtzman called Beauprez’s efforts tepid and ineffectual. “It’s typical Bob Beauprez,” Holtzman said, “a day late and a dollar short.” He blasted Beauprez for declining to appear in ads against the referenda, saying that would have been enough to defeat Ref C. “So, I lay the passage of Referendum C at the foot of Bob Beauprez. The fact that it passed, if anything, will make the base of my party feel more aggrieved and angry. So, I hope that people will see that, unlike my opponent, who hid in the tall grass on this issue and tried to appeal to both sides, that I showed what decisive leadership is all about.” Beauprez campaign manager John Marshall scoffed at Holtzman. “The reality is that Bob was very clear on what he thought about C&D, but, unlike Marc, he was wiling to act like a statesman and a gentleman,” Marshall said. “You know, disagree without being disagreeable, and I think a lot of people out there feel like Marc didn’t show the class that he could have.”

Twenty-five Years Ago this week in The Colorado Statesman … Colorado voters split their tickets in statewide races, handily reelecting Gov. Roy Romer to a second term over his Republican challenger, John Andrews, while sending U.S. Rep. Hank Brown to the U.S. Senate over Democratic opponent Josie Heath. The tax-limiting Amendment 1, sponsored by Doug Bruce, went down to defeat. Ornery voters ousted Attorney General Duane Woodard, who had switched his affiliation from Republican to Democrat, replacing him with Gale Norton. Election night included colorful quotes, rounded up by Colorado Springs correspondent Leslie Jorgensen. “The spirit is willing, but we’re out of torpedoes,” said Andrews, conceding the gubernatorial race. “Do you want to keep your seat?” Brown asked retiring U.S. Sen. Bill Armstrong before delivering his acceptance speech. “The public has got to understand that sometimes even the government will not tell the truth when money is on the table. It was a game of bluff and blackmail,” said Bruce about a last-minute campaign against his ballot measure. “If the president goes back on his word not to raise taxes, what politician can you trust?” asked U.S. Rep. Joel Hefley, elbowing President George H.W. Bush while predicting state voters would hear more from Bruce.

— ernest@coloradostatesman.com