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Who supports Referenda C&D? Well, over 100 dedicated souls showed up at the Colorado-Wyoming border on US-287 to demonstrate their support.
(View the gallery!)
Politicians, candidates, college students, teachers, union members, veterans, contractors, and just regular folk all came out for a beautiful day in Northern Colorado for a common goal: responsible funding of the State Government.
(Details after the break)
The Colorado Walk, which started Saturday at the Wyoming border and finishes on October 13th at the New Mexico border, is helping to spread the word on the upcoming November 1, 2005 election on Referenda C&D, which are bi-partisan measures to stabilize the State budget from the aftermath of the recession. (For more information on why Referenda C&D are necessary, see the Vote Yes on C-D website).
Among the state leaders present: State Senate Majority Leader Ken Gordon, State Senate Minority Leader Norma Anderson, Joint Budget Committee Vice-Chair Rep. Tom Plant, State Senator Sue Windels, and State Senator Deanna Hanna (I know there were more - if you can help identify any of these suspects, post a comment so I can update the list...) (Update: Ken Gordon's newsletter identifies some more notable Colorado political figures at the start of the walk: Steve Johnson, Bob Bacon, Bob McCluskey, Jerry Frangas, and Peggy Reeves.)
Also on hand in the political arena were Democratic Gubenatorial candidate Bill Ritter and the Peggy Lamm for Congress crew.
College students (many from the Young Democrats), came from both CU and CSU to show their support - though they all left a bit early after a single round of fight songs so they could cheer on their respective teams at the day's CU-CSU football game. The Colorado Contractor's Association provided strong support from the business community (they can be seen holding the Colorado Walk and Vote Yes On C-D signs in the gallery). Education and Healthcare seemed to be the topics of the day, with educators, students, and healthcare workers making up a significant portion of the crowd. Responsible spending was another hot topic; I heard the cry for moderation more than once as I wandered back and forth along the march line taking pictures.
Overall, I believe this was a very successful launch of the Colorado walk; getting 100 people out to the Wyoming border on Labor Day weekend had to be difficult; getting them out there to show support for an off-season Referendum (no matter how important) was astounding. Some of these dedicated people plan to walk the entire state! I'll be joining them for selected portions, but alas I have a full-time job that prevents me from doing most of it.
Be sure to visit the photo gallery for some images of the walk.
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