“Governor Love is a dumb bell.”

It was a Sunday afternoon and David Gaon was listening to the Herrick Roth show, when suddenly a man named J.D. MacFarlane made this comment about Gov. John Love. Gaon immediately called MacFarlane, offered to work on his campaign for attorney general, went to Pueblo to meet with Wally Stealey and J.D.’s wife, Janet. David ended up driving all over the state with them as MacFarlane pursued his first campaign for attorney general.

So when David tells me “politics is in his blood,” I believe him.

In 1972, due to a series of coincidences, David found himself residing in an open House seat, ran and won, becoming the youngest member of the class of 1973. He and I worked closely on a number of issues, from consumer protection to the death penalty, and what I saw was this enormous enthusiasm, great sense of politics and a belief that there was no better place to be than the Colorado House of Representatives.

In 1974, the Watergate year, we took the House — a short-lived but very rewarding victory. Speaker Ruben Valdez named David and me to the Joint Budget Committee and sent us off to do battle with Sen. Joe Shoemaker, the JBC chairman. We knew Joe well because, at the end of the previous session, he had had his Senate Appropriations Committee kill some 30 bills in one vote. None of the bill sponsors got to say a word about their bills (Wellington Webb and I were both there with our bills, waiting expectantly in the packed hearing room), not one of the committee members protested, either Republican or Democrat, and the vote was unanimous. In other words, in less than three minutes, 30-plus bills bit the dust.

Our instructions from Ruben were to stand up to this guy, Joe Shoemaker, and come up with a budget that was fair to those in need in Colorado. I believe that we were successful because Joe turned out to be a wonderful guy to work with and became a life-long friend. A key factor was David’s relentless enthusiasm, hard work and determination to make this grueling process fun.

My fondest memories are of putting the budget together with David; Shoemaker; Rep. Sandy Arnold, a very caring Republican from Boulder; Sen. Paul Sandoval from Denver; and Sen. Ruth Stockton, a Republican from Lakewood and a strong advocate for women’s issues. Despite many policy differences, we became a team and stood up for each other. Not only did we have to fight issues out within the committee, but David and I would then have to spend two or three days in a stuffy committee room in the Capitol basement defending our bill in the House Democratic Caucus and fending off attacks from all sides, particular from the voracious Pueblo delegation.

Wally Stealey has been one of David’s closest friends since 1970, as is J.D. MacFarlane. In fact, when David was in the House, he invited Wally to join the infamous poker games that took place in the Speaker’s office. Wally declined, saying that he didn’t know how to play very well and that he was timid. David offered to teach him, unaware that Wally was actually a card shark and had been making money at casinos for decades!

“He has a guiding light,” Wally says, “and is always looking out for the little guy.”

Wally also tells the story of them going to Rep. Bob Shoemaker’s apartment for dinner. Shoemaker cooked up brisket, short bread and Rocky Mountain oysters, which David declined. “Come on, David,” Wally said. “They’re really matzo balls.” David still declined.

Sadly, the end came in the summer of 1976, when David simply took on too much — a re-election campaign against the relentless Ann Gorsuch, campaigning for other candidates because we were desperately trying to maintain our majority, a wedding to a wonderful woman, ongoing committee meetings, and, finally, the Bar exam.

One day that summer we were having a budget hearing at the Capitol. In those days, none of us had offices or staff, the JBC offices and hearing room were on the third floor, and the Supreme Court still had its offices and hearing room there. Chief Justice Eddie Pringle was a fierce advocate for the judicial budget, and I had called his office to invite him over to discuss some financial issue. Before he arrived, we took a break. David and I were standing by the railing chatting, and the subject of the bar exam came up.

“I’ve got it taken care of, David,” I said.

He looked at me in surprise.

“I told Chief Justice Pringle that we’d give him his supplemental appropriation if he guaranteed me you’d pass the bar.”

David looked horrified. Then he accused me of joking.

“David, I’m not kidding. Listen to those footsteps.”

Clip, clop, clip, clop. We could tell from these rapid footsteps that it was Pringle headed our way. Then he came into sight and David almost jumped off the railing.

Kind of a dirty trick on my part, but back in those days, there were a lot of laughs. That’s the way to get things done. Fight hard for what you believe in but don’t forget to laugh and have some fun. It was fun serving with David Gaon and we also got a lot done.

Morgan Smith is a former state representative and Commissioner of Agriculture. Reach him at Morgan-smith@comcast.net.