Don Marostica

Don Marostica (born March 7, 1948) is a real estate developer and former legislator in the U.S. state of Colorado, currently serving as director of the state's Office of Economic Development and International Trade.

Raised in Colorado, Marostica is an Army veteran, former high school teacher, and most recently a prominent real estate developer in northern Colorado.

In seeking the 51st House district state house seat, representing Loveland, Marostica first faced a challenge from Kevan McNaught in the Republican primary.

McNaught was endorsed by the Colorado Club for Growth, who criticized Marostica for his support of higher taxes and his use of eminent domain when he was a member the Loveland city council.

Marostica edged out McNaught in the Republican primary by about 250 votes, or 5% of voters.

He attended Colorado State University on football and wrestling scholarships, graduating in 1970 with a degree in physical science and geology.

In 1975, he earned a master's degree in secondary school administration from the University of Northern Colorado

Marostica entered the real estate industry in 1977 and is currently a partner in Loveland Commercial, LLC.

Have been commissioned through the ROTC program at Colorado State, Marostica served in the United States Army and the Colorado Army National Guard, leaving the service at the rank of captain in 1979.

After leaving the army, Marostica taught and coached wrestling at Rocky Mountain High School in Fort Collins.

Marostica currently resides in Loveland, Colorado with his wife, Carol.

He also had tax liens filed against him both in the early 1980s and in the mid-1990s, and has since paid all back taxes.

Marostica became financially successful in real estate, and, together with other partners in Loveland Commercial, has donated extensively to local causes, including endowing a chair in the business department of Colorado State University.

As a developer, Marostica specialized in commercial real estate, spearheading five Planned Unit Developments in Loveland and Milliken, Colorado.

In 1982, during a downturn in the real estate market, Marostica declared bankruptcy and had judgements from creditors filed against him.

Marostica was elected to the Loveland City Council in 2001, serving for three years, including a span as mayor pro tem, before resigning in 2004 because of professional conflicts of interest.

In contrast with McNaught's conservative credentials, Marostica was considered by observers on both the left and the right to be a moderate Republican; he supported Colorado's 2005 Referendum C, a loosening of state spending restrictions under the state's Taxpayer Bill of Rights.

In the general election, Marostica defeated Democrat Jodi Radke in the general election with 56% of the vote.

Marostica raised and spent roughly $350,000, of which $220,000 — almost least two-thirds of the money his campaign spent — was donated by Marostica himself, to win the contested primary and general elections.

After several years serving on the Loveland, Colorado city council, Marostica was elected to the Colorado House of Representatives in 2006, represented House District 51, which encompasses the city of Loveland.

During his 2006 legislative campaign, he was criticized for, as a city council member, voting to award city money to his company for a development contract; the city council had to authorize a special exception to its conflict of interest rules to approve the contract.

Marostica has served on over 60 boards and commissions in the Loveland area, with an emphasis on transportation-related issues (Loveland Transportation Finance Committee, Loveland East-West Mobility Study Committee, Loveland Eisenhower Boulevard Alignment Analysis Committee, Fort Collins-Loveland Airport Master Plan Update Committee).

He has also served as the chair of the board of directors of the Poudre Valley Health System Foundation and the Medical Center of the Rockies Foundation, and on the bond oversight committee for the Thompson School District.

He is also an avid motorcyclist and regularly participates in the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally and Ride to the Wall, a cross-county ride ending at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

For the 2007 session of the Colorado General Assembly, Marostica was assigned to seats on the House Finance Committee and the House Transportation and Energy Committee, while expressing an interest in eventually serving on the powerful Joint Budget Committee.

Following the legislative session, Marostica sat on the interim Transportation Legislation Review Committee.

Although a Republican serving in a legislature controlled by Democrats, Marostica was relatively successful at passing legislation.

During his first session, Marostica sponsored bills to streamline the issuance of search warrants, to give volunteer reserve peace officers the same status as regular peace officers, and to require that

powersports vehicles be sold only by licensed motor vehicle dealers.

Marostica, an avid motorcyclist, was among the prominent opponents of a bill that would have required minors to wear motorcycle helmets while riding, even wearing his own motorcycle helmet to a committee hearing at which the bill was debated.

Marostica failed to win legislative approval what he described as his "most important" proposal — the "Taxpayer Transparency Act," which would have required that government expenditures larger than $300 be reported on a searchable government website.

In the 2008 session of the Colorado General Assembly, Marostica sat on the House Health and Human Services Committee, the House Transportation and Energy Committee, and the Joint Capital Development Committee.

Marostica declared his "favorite bill" among those he sponsored during the session to be a measure to exempt owners from property tax on buildings leased to public universities, an idea Marostica attributed to a local developer.

Marostica also sponsored legislation signed into law to allow statutory counties, cities, and towns to spend money on marketing in addition to advertising, in response to a lawsuit challenging the town of Estes Park's ability to engage in marketing.

Marostica announced his bid for re-election to the legislature in January 2008; Marostica's campaign raised about five times as much money as that of Democratic opponent Kenneth Bennett, bringing in over $80,000 by mid-October, of which $10,000 was contributed by Marostica personally; His re-election bid was endorsed by the Denver Post, Marostica ultimately won with 58 percent of the vote.

In the contested 2008 Republican presidential primaries, Marostica supported former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, helping to organize a November 2007 fundraiser for Giuliani's campaign that was reported to net over $60,000.

Marostica, regarded as a moderate Republican, focused heavily on fiscal issues as a legislator, including transparency and loosening budgetary restrictions, and sat on the legislature's Joint Budget Committee during the 2009 session.

In July 2009, Marostica resigned from the legislature to accept the post of economic development director in the cabinet of Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter, where he has focused on attracting and growing business in the state of Colorado during the ongoing recession.

Marostica was born in Sterling, Colorado and graduated from Roosevelt High School in Johnstown.

Although supported by Republican House leadership, the bill died in committee; however, Marostica saw his transparency proposal implemented in 2009 by an executive order of Gov. Bill Ritter.