3 days Ago By [email protected] (Rachael Wright)
Thirty Years Ago This Week: “Gale Norton is a budget-buster who can’t run the office within her budget,” said her challenger for attorney general and former state Democratic Party Chairman Dick Freese during a debate with Norton. “If we ran our law practices like this we would be out of business,” Freese said to members of the Business and Economics Council at the Embassy Suites Hotel. Freese said that Norton had given the attorneys in her office an “unauthorized pay raise” and then had to go cap-in-hand to the state legislature for the $400,000 to cover the expense.
Norton, Freese said, had also given her employees a day off at taxpayers’ expense. But Norton responded that the lawyers on her staff earned on average $10,000 less per year than most lawyers and that “adequate pay is necessary to attract good people.” Freese seemed to take umbrage with Norton’s choice of words when she defended her work on state crime levels and the establishment of a “Capitol Crimes Unit” within the AG’s office to help local law enforcement officials.
“I’m fed up with her saying ‘my office did this, my office did that,’” said Freese. Norton’s next remarks contained even more ‘my office’ references in what many in the audience saw as a deliberate tactic to shake Freese, a former aide to Gov. Dick Lamm.
When Norton ran for office in 1990 against incumbent Duane Woodard she challenged his record on crime, arguing that he wasn’t aggressive enough in his tactics. Freese lobbed much the same charge, especially at Norton’s opposition during the previous legislative session to concealed weapons bills, which went directly counter to the stance of many sheriffs and police chiefs’ recommendations. Norton also hadn’t provided proper training for law enforcement officers who were at a disadvantage when compiling evidence in criminal cases, Freese added.
Twenty Years Ago: Colorado Secretary of State Donetta Davidson and Gov. Bill Owens expression their worry that concerns over voter registration fraud could cast a shadow of “suspicion and illegitimacy” over the state. Several hundred “questionable” registration forms were turned over to the attorney general’s office but Davidson said “only one person has been charged with fraud.
” Davidson said that she had been “left out of the loop” regarding the investigative process. Owens meanwhile spoke with Attorney General Ken Salazar and district attorneys around Colorado to “act decisively and rapidly to root out fraud and prosecute it to the fullest extent of the law.” The issue with the registration forms arose when a community service organization, ACORN, held sponsored voter registration drives and several hundred were found to contain false information.
A Colorado television station also broke the news that more than 6,000 convicted felons had registered to vote contrary to state law. At an unprecedented emergency meeting Davidson spoke with Colorado’s county clerks and recorders, district attorneys and Salazar regarding the voter registration process. “We were very pleased about the meeting,” said Lisa Doran, spokeswoman for the secretary of state’s office.
“We now have a plan and everyone is willing to work as a team. There will be great cooperation between inter jurisdictional agencies and officials, and open communication. The district attorneys will work with the attorney general’s office and prosecute some of the cases locally, instead of statewide.
” Salazar, who was running as the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, recused himself from investigations that involved the attorney general’s office.
“Ken Salazar and Donetta Davidson talked it over, and decided it would be best so there would be no question or conflict,” said Ken Lane, spokesman for the attorney general’s office. Rachael Wright is the author of several novels including The Twins of Strathnaver, with degrees in Political Science and History from Colorado Mesa University, and is a contributing writer to Colorado Politics and The Colorado Springs Gazette..
