Bill Owens

Bill Owens was the Republican Governor of Colorado, first elected in November 1998 and then re-elected in 2002. He was the Chairman of the Republican Governors Association. He did not run for governor in 2006 because of term limits. (Democrat Bill Ritter was elected governor in 2006.)

Owens enthusiastically embraced and implemented conservative policy changes including tort reform, cutting taxes, major changes to the education system and transportation education reform.

In a biographical note on his website, Owens states that he "was a leading advocate of the Colorado Taxpayers' Bill of Rights (TABOR), which caps government spending and requires that excess funds be returned to state taxpayers." 

He boasts that he "pushed through the largest tax relief package in state history, amounting to $1 billion in cuts in rates of sales, personal income and capital gains taxes, and an elimination of the marriage penalty".

Owens' website approvingly cites that the Cato Institute has applauded his economic management of the state and being cited as an example for other states by the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal.

According to his biographical note, Owens "holds a Master's degree in public administration from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, worked for 20 years in the private sector with the consulting staff of Deloitte and Touche, with the Gates Corporation and as director of a trade association. The Governor is an expert on Soviet affairs and writes and lectures often on Russia."

According to his website profile he was "identified as one of the country's top ten rising political stars by syndicated columnist Robert Novak".

"He accelerated road and mass transit projects that would have taken half a century to complete - projects that will now be done in a decade. He pushed for and signed into law the largest state commitment to transportation which will invest $15 billion over the next two decades", he claims on his website.

Owens has championed conservative positions on the sanctity of marriage and the family.  However, in 2003 he announced that he and his wife were separating.