3 hours Ago By [email protected] (Rachael Wright)
Thirty Years Ago This Week: Even though they failed in their efforts to oust Gov. Roy Romer, Republican leadership said they were thrilled with the way the election had panned out for their party as they gained majorities in both the state House and Senate in addition to securing three statewide offices in the executive branch. At a meeting of the Republican Party Central Committee at the Tech Center Sheraton, GOP Chairman Don Bain was unusually effusive in his praise of gubernatorial candidate Bruce Benson.
The legislative victories, he assured the audience, had been due to Bruce Benson’s well-financed campaign, which had kept Romer on defense, leaving him little time left to help other Democratic candidates. Jim Nicholson, Republican National Committeeman, said of the meeting, “It’s the most well-deserved ‘love fest' I’ve been to in a long time.” Nicholson also congratulated Republican National Committee Chairman Haley Barbour for arming races with money to conduct invaluable research that allowed them to beat vulnerable Democrats in Congress and governorships across the country.
“Vikki Buckley gained national attention,” Nicholson said. “She was virtually unknown, a black woman. Her election says a lot about Vikki Buckley, but also a lot about the party.
Think about how color blind we are as a party. This is a great message to send to young people, especially young minorities.” But several Republicans were dissatisfied with the gold-foil copies of the Colorado Republican Party Victory Report that Bain distributed at the meeting.
They were equally displeased with the way state party funds had been distributed during the general election, claiming they had been doled out vastly unequally. Mike Sheely, who ran for House District 36 and had raised only $1,800 for his campaign without a single cent from the state party, said that “with just another 203 votes he would have won the seat.” Although Nicholson reported $342,000 was raised when Barbour visited Denver in early October, and that $70,000 went directly to Colorado House candidates,” there were questions about where the money actually ended up.
Hal Shroyer complained that candidate “Pat Miller needed money for advertising, but she didn’t get enough” and said that Bain’s “Victory Report” was just a public relations ploy to cover his lackluster leadership. Dick Sargent, gubernatorial candidate and two-time state treasurer candidate, spoke with Phil Klingsmith on a Colorado Springs talk radio show and both expressed their frustration over Benson and Bain. “Benson bastardized the system.
He is a coward tor taking the petition route,” Sargent said. “He wasn’t smart enough to take Romer on ..
.Romer is a warrior. I respect him for that.
” Klingsmith went one step further and said that he wouldn’t support Bain for party chairman re-election unless he came clean about why Bain didn’t say anything when Benson circumvented the party by petitioning onto the ballot. For his part, many attendees said Benson looked strangely thrilled to be at the election postmortem. He charged the committee to, “hold Roy Romer’s feet to the fire .
.. but let’s get behind him too.
” Twenty Years Ago: For the first time since 1960 the Democratic Party was able to celebrate controlling majorities in both the House and Senate. At their rousing leadership caucuses Democrats elected Sen. Joan Fitz-Gerald, D-Golden, and Rep.
Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver, as senate president and speaker of the house, respectively. Fitz-Gerald became the first woman ever to hold the office. Sen.
Peter Groff, D-Denver, made history when he was elected as speaker pro tempore, the highest statehouse office ever held by a Black man. Colorado was an outlier in the 2004 election as the only state to have switched control from Republican to Democrat. “Regardless, it’s clear that the 2004 election (creating the Democratic majorities) did not happen by serendipity,” Fitz-Gerald said at an AFL-CIO media conference event at the state capitol.
“We forgot about the bread-and-butter issues ...
We forgot what our purpose was under the Republican leadership." 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..
