Ten Years Ago this week in The Colorado Statesman … Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper was joined by Lakewood Mayor Steve Burkholder, Fort Collins Mayor Doug Hutchinson, Colorado Forum director Gail Klapper, former Colorado State University president Al Yates and others to unveil the Colorado Climate Project, aimed at developing a plan to reduce the state’s contribution and vulnerability to a climate disrupted by human activities. “State and local governments, businesses and nonprofits are leading the way on addressing climate change,” Hickenlooper said. “Here in Colorado, we are working collaboratively with leaders from the public and private sectors to develop an action-agenda on climate change to leave a legacy of economic opportunity, environmental health and genuine sustainability for future generations.” A program of the Rocky Mountain Climate Organization, the project included 28 partner organizations and businesses, and intended to develop a “climate agenda” to present to the next governor and the General Assembly. Yates added, “We in Colorado could wait for other states to do enough to keep our state safe. We in the United States could continue to wait for other nations to do enough to keep our country safe. But that’s not us, not who we are. Colorado is one of the surest bellwethers in the country – we break new ground, we lead the way, we are our nation’s pioneers.” …

… Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill Ritter reached a milestone, completing his tour of Colorado’s 64 counties with a celebration on Labor Day in Leadville – “the town that labor built” – in Lake County. “There’s no better place to finish than the high country in Colorado,” said Ritter, who noted that he and his wife, Jeannie, honeymooned in Lake County in 1983. GOP candidate Bob Beauprez’s campaign continued to call Ritter and running mate Barbara O’Brien “the Denver Duo,” however. “I hope someone warned them that the Light Rail doesn’t run all the way to Grand Junction,” said Beauprez’s acerbic running mate Janet Rowland as the Democrats made their way to the Club 20 fall conference in Mesa County. “I’d hate to have them lost in LoDo when they could be parading around the Western Slope in rural outfits.”

… It might have seemed odd that the executive director of Coloradans for Fairness and Equality, the organization behind the domestic partnership ballot measure, was straight, married, Republican, conservative and attended an evangelical Christian church, but Sean Duffy said he was the perfect choice to head the campaign for Referendum I. “I’m the diversity program,” the former deputy chief of staff for GOP Gov. Bill Owens joked. It was no accident he got the job, he noted, arguing that the movement needed a broader base than just gays, lesbians and liberals. The key to winning with voters would be making a case that the measure simply provided gay couples with legal rights – like hospital visitation – that married couples enjoy, Duffy said, and that’s why the campaign slogan was, “It’s not marriage. It’s basic legal rights.” The campaign was shaping up to be massive, particularly because the referendum would be appearing on the same ballot as a gay-marriage ban, and already had six offices across the state and had aired five different television ads. Duffy put plans to open his own lobbying and public relations firm on hold when he joined Tim Gill’s Coloradans for Fairness and Equity at the urging of lawyer and lobbyist Ted Trimpa, a friend from the Referendum C campaign a year earlier. Duffy and Trimpa bridged partisan divides in that successful endeavor and had been named Politicians of the Year by 5280 magazine. Duffy said the biggest misconception about his job heading the Referendum I campaign was when fellow Republican operatives accused him of being “in the engine room of the Democratic takeover of Colorado,” Duffy chuckled. “People who haven’t bothered to call and ask me assume I’m doing Democratic work. That’s patently untrue.” Referring to controversial Mesa County Commissioner Janet Rowland and President George W. Bush, he added, “Although I’m extremely disappointed in (GOP gubernatorial candidate Bob) Beauprez’s pick of a substandard lieutenant governor candidate, I still am on record supporting Bob Beauprez, as well as for the president.” Rowland had caused a firestorm of controversy when she suggested that legalizing gay marriage would be akin to legalizing bestiality, and Republican consultant Joshua Sharf rushed to her defense in his blog. “Liberals and leftists (and their fellow travelers, this means you, Mr. Duffy) are naïve or disingenuous to dismiss the ‘polygamy to polyamory lobby’ in the gay community,” Scharf wrote. Duffy dismissed the fracas. “Part of my job, not just for Nov. 7, but going forward, is to say, ‘Look, you’ve got to cut this stuff out of being worried that if you say a nice thing to a gay person you’re going to be thrown out of electoral politics.’ It just is not a supportable position.” …

… Speaker of the House Andrew Romanoff celebrated turning 40 with a kiss from Marilyn Musgrave, or perhaps it was Pam Clifton wearing a blond wig. The political whiz kid was subjected to plenty of humiliation and good-natured ribbing at his birthday bash at the Walnut Foundry Event Center. The $40-per-celebrant cost of entry raised money for the House Majority Fund, drawing throngs of well-wishers, including CU Regent Jared Polis, newly minted Democrat Josh Hanfling, state Rep. Nancy Todd and actor John Ashton, who emceed a skit performed by local politicos. According to the premise, a video crew had followed Romanoff around for a year but the crew had to reenact everything because of a mishap with the videotape, and hilarity ensued. The skit, with Jason Short portraying Romanoff, started off with the Democrat going as Douglas Bruce for Halloween, depicted him visiting his Republican dad and Democratic mom for Thanksgiving, and then showed him drowning under 8,000 Valentines Day emails he had to return. “Romanoff” even got to spend time with his beloved dog Zorro. Along the way, the skit featured his much-anticipated announcement about running for Denver mayor – although he passed – and state Sen. Ken Gordon donning a toga and fig leaf wreath to deliver his version of the “Friends, Romanoffs and Countrymen” speech. It was all capped by a breathy rendition of “Happy Birthday, Mr. Speaker” delivered by the Musgrave impersonator in the manner of Marilyn Monroe’s famous performance at John F. Kennedy’s birthday party.

– ernest@coloradostatesman.com