A weekly dive into the pages of Colorado Politics’ predecessor, The Colorado Statesman, which started in 1898:

Forty Years Ago This Week: Four wayward members of the Democratic Central Committee were notified by Denver Democratic Party Chairman Ann Bormolini, that they were to be relieved of their posts pending a formal hearing.

According to Democratic party rules, adopted in 1978, committee-people were obligated to support the party’s candidates. The rules specifically stated that failure to perform this and other duties: “shall constitute grounds for removal from office by the chair, based on a written bill of particulars.”

The most interesting of the individual cases involved Lea Robinson, committee-person and finance chair for District 13B. The captain and co-captains of precinct 13A, Sam Tarkington and Dorothy Valuck, alleged that Robinson was supporting the Republican candidate for House District 13, Paul Swalm, against the Democratic incumbent, Rep. Jerry Kopel. As a result, the two asked that Robinson reign or be removed.

It was unclear whether the Denver Democratic Executive Committee and/or the chairman could legally remove a committee person who was elected by party members in a precinct. While the rules stated that Robinson could be removed for a variety of grievances, the legalities hadn not been tested in court.

But Robinson’s district captain, Ralph Nordhauser, said even if Robinson was removed as a committee-person she would continue to serve as finance chairman, as the district captain appoints the position.

And party insiders said that while the evidence was strong that Robinson did favor Swalm over Kopel, chances were she would neither resign nor be removed by the Executive Committee. Robinson had a long record as an effective party worker and was an active supporter of Sen. Gary Hart and Gov. Dick Lamm.

… In other news, after losing his house race to Democrat challenger, Kathleen Sullivan, Rep. Nick Theos, R-Meeker, told The Colorado Statesman that it had been “a real dirty campaign.”

Theos said that Sullivan and Gov. Dick Lamm had accused him of being a zero-representative: of never sponsoring any bills.

“They said I was just putting in time and cracking jokes in the legislature,” Theos complained. “It got pretty rough. I carried a lot of bills by (Sens.) Dick Soash and Tillie Bishop. It was pretty unethical what they said about me.”

Theos said that since he was defeated, he would probably go back to herding his sheep.

“I’m a poor loser,” Theos said. “But I’ll be at the legislature quite a bit to lobby two or three bills through.”

Theos also said he might accept a lobbying job with the Rocky Mountain Oil and Gas Association. “And I will still be the spokesman for the livestock industry,” he said.

Thirty Years Ago: It was found in public filings that Republican Don Bain, whose name had been bandied about as a potential Denver mayoral candidate, had donated $250 to Democrat U.S. Sen. Tim Wirth — a source of contention among fellow Republicans.

When asked by Colorado Statesman reporters about the donation and the potential impact of crossing party lines, Bain said he saw the donation as a “trivial kind of event.”

“It seems to me that Tim called up looking for a contribution to cover his deficit. So I helped him out,” Bain said. “I’ve been acquainted with him for a number of years, before he was famous.”

Bain said their friendship didn’t extend to actual election support. 

“I certainly never contributed to him while he was running against U.S. Rep. Ken Kramer in 1986. And he never supported me when I was running for mayor,” Bain stressed.

Bain also said that he wasn’t likely to support Wirth if the Republicans ran a candidate against him in 1992.

“If people make the judgement that anyone who ever voted for or supported the opposite party is a scoundrel, then so be it,” Bain said. “This isn’t a dictatorship where we resolve disputes through violence — we have to work within the two-party system.”

State Republican Party Chairman Bruce Benson agreed and said, “I never like Republicans to give to Democrats, but nobody’s perfect.”

Rachael Wright is the author of the Captain Savva Mystery series, with degrees in Political Science and History from Colorado Mesa University, and is a contributing writer to Colorado Politics and the Colorado Springs Gazette.