John Hicklenlooper Taps Bill Owens To Co-Chair Transition Team

Colorado Governor-elect John Hickenlooper has named former Republican Governor Bill Owens as co-chair of his gubernatorial transition team.

KDVR first broke the news on Monday afternoon.

Hickenlooper, a Democrat, has stressed the importance of bipartisanship in the week since defeating American Constitution Party Candidate Tom Tancredo and Republican Dan Maes.

"Right from the word go, you learn there's no margin in having enemies," Hickenlooper told the Denver Post over the weekend.

"This diverse group of leaders will also help the Hickenlooper-Garcia transition team recruit and evaluate the best candidates to oversee numerous state agencies," the Governor-elect said in a statement Monday.

Owens, who served as Governor from 1999-2007, did not endorse a candidate for Governor.

Former Republican Congressman and Senatorial Candidate Bob Schaffer was also named a Committee C-Chair.

Comments

[MileHighCityMan]

11:03 PM on 11/10/2010

After Colorado voters voted for the Dem by nearly 20 points, the obvious decision is to betray your voters immediately and reward your losing opponents. Oh boy, here we go again..

[cooperone]

05:49 PM on 11/09/2010

Another thought: while in office Owens wrote a letter to the WTO recommending flat tuition for higher ed world wide. Didn't Hick state that our colleges were in trouble regarding funding?

Great tap Hick!

[cooperone]

05:47 PM on 11/09/2010

and how many Democrats did Owens ask for help while he was Governor??????
Let him go back to DU and his classroom. Come on Hick.........this is disappointing at best.

[Fred303]

01:10 PM on 11/09/2010

somewhere in the middle is fine

[1differentdrummer]

06:10 AM on 11/09/2010

Owens? That frootloop? Whatever for?

[Kevin Brauer]

03:25 AM on 11/09/2010

A bold purplee move for a purplee Governor of a purlee state!

[alicante]

11:32 PM on 11/08/2010

OMGHICKWTF!

[Oh Spagetti Os]

11:18 PM on 11/08/2010

What tha? Bad suprise. We have to stop trying to "work with" these people (Republicans) they take advantage of every gesture of good will and twist it to their own benefit, thus wasting our precious time on the clock. Wake up Hick.

[Icantbelieveher]

10:51 PM on 11/08/2010

This doesn't bode well for our state!  Much as I dislike Ritter, he moved us ahead in clean energy and our unemployment isn't as high as other states.  Enter another Owens governorship!  He'll be championing fracking and mountain top removal and they'll destroy what's left of our wildlife!
I'm over these dems using bipartisanship as a cover to be corporatists!

[DenverBigDaddy]

09:13 PM on 11/08/2010

Sure glad Bill Ritter won a second term........

[Viper1st]

08:57 PM on 11/08/2010

Hickenlooper to Ritter transition?

One and the same ~ like mut & jeff

sould only take a change of underwear ~ need Owens to help out w/that?

[outsidethetent]

08:09 PM on 11/08/2010

Sure hope this strategy works better in Denver than it has in D.C.Hick said some troubling things during the campaign [like ''revisiting''the regulations on natural gas exploration] and was so ''pro-business'',I was concerned he might be Owens in disguise-now this.Working with the diminishing number of Republicans not co-opted by the evangelical dogma of freemarket right wing extremists is as logical as it is laudable,but the plight of middle and working class Coloradans is what Hickenlooper must focus on-not making it easier for corporations ,energy extraction companys, and the very wealthiest [often part-time] citizens of the state to continue to disproportionately profit and avoid the very real costs we must share.

[MileHighCityMan]

10:36 PM on 11/08/2010

It's not any smarter in Denver than it is in DC.

[Weirdwriter]

07:19 PM on 11/08/2010

Bold move, Mr. H. I do hope it works out well.

[HowdyDoody]

06:51 PM on 11/08/2010

Owens is Bush's best friend from Texas. We put up with him for 8 long years. BTW, looks like he had a chin implant and it's still teeny.

[outsidethetent]

08:21 PM on 11/08/2010

Anatomical observations are so pertinent,and, oh yeah,REAL classy!

[DurangoSteve]

05:45 PM on 11/08/2010

Owens is a reptile.

[whiteconch]

07:35 PM on 11/08/2010

agreed! O.M.G...Hickenlooper!,...WHAT ARE YOU DOING??? don't pull an obama on us and hope this snake is your friend!!...

[1differentdrummer]

06:26 AM on 11/10/2010

Reptiles can never be our friends. Faved.