Twenty Years Ago this week in The Colorado Statesman … Colorado Conservative Union chairman Dudley Brown issued “Wanted” notices for the two Republican legislators scoring lowest on the group’s ratings from the 1995 session. State Rep. Russell George, R-Rifle, didn’t vote the way CCU wanted on any of 13 bills, and state Sen. Dave Watenberg, R-Walden, only voted with CCU once on 11 bills. Calling for the pair’s ouster, Brown said they had “joined with the most radical liberals in the state Capitol to support bigger government, more regulations and less individual freedoms.”

Democrats in the Legislature, predictably, scored poorly on CCU’s scale. Five joined George with zero scores: state Reps. Diana DeGette, D-Denver, Ken Gordon, D-Denver, Moe Keller, D-Lakewood, Peggy Lamm, D-Lafayette, and Peggy Reeves, D-Fort Collins. Only two lawmakers scored 100 percent: state Sens. Bob Schaffer, R-Fort Collins, and Mike Coffman, R-Aurora, followed closely by state Sens. Mary Anne Tebedo, R-Colorado Springs, and Charlie Duke, R-Monument, and state Reps. Jim Congrove, R-Arvada, Mark Paschall, R-Arvada, and Marilyn Musgrave, R-Fort Morgan. …

… Kent Briggs, a senior fellow at Colorado-based conservative think tank Center for the New West, told the Cherry Creek Republican Women’s Club it was going to take a smart approach to solidify sweeping gains made by the GOP in the 1994 elections. Voters didn’t want change for the sake of change, he said, but were responding to a realignment of the parties’ core values. “Whether the Republican Party can seize upon that difference remains to be seen – history is replete with political parties snapping defeat from the jaws of victory,” he said.

Based on his work with the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, Briggs said conservatives could keep on winning if they capitalized on five issues: shrinking the size of the public sector; “violent crime and stranger death;” embracing the “leave me alone” approach to government awakened by the Ross Perot voters; term limits; and “embracing patriotism.” President George H.W. Bush missed the boat by not throwing a ticker-tape parade for soldiers returning from Europe after the end of the Cold War, Briggs contended. “We should have slapped ourselves on the back…. We won!”

Thirty Years Ago this week in The Colorado Statesman … U.S. Sen. Gary Hart hadn’t said for sure that he wouldn’t be seeking a third term in 1986 but already the Republican candidates for his seat were lining up. State Sen. Martha Ezzard, R-Cherry Hills Village, announced her bid in a speech at the state Capitol rotunda, saying the federal government could benefit from Colorado’s experience tackling problems. The state budget is balanced, she declared, because Coloradans demand accountability. “If we don’t have the money, we don’t spend it.” Fielding questions from the press, Ezzard said she didn’t consider herself “too liberal” to win the GOP nomination, instead describing herself as a “Colorado conservative.” When it comes to social issues, she continued, she was a problem-solver. “It’s not mutually exclusive to be conservative and sensitive to human needs,” she said. Terry Considine hadn’t made his campaign official yet but was reportedly drafting a letter touting U.S. Sen. Bill Armstrong’s endorsement. U.S. Rep. Ken Kramer, who planned to enter the race in a couple weeks, said he wasn’t blindsided by Armstrong’s move and was “very gentlemanly about it, at least publicly,” The Statesman reported. Ezzard, for her part, said she’d thought Armstrong was going to sit out the primary but took his backing of Considine in stride. “It will make it easier for me to get top line” at the state assembly, she said. “Kramer has the Coors (family), Terry has Bill Armstrong. I’ll take the people.” …

… Three dozen Coloradans spent a whirlwind few days touring the nation’s capital on a trip sponsored by Citizens for America, a conservative group with strong Colorado ties. Holly Coors – she was instrumental in starting up CFA a couple years earlier – organized the trip and quickly established “her unassuming but nevertheless omnipotent standing in Washington circles” when Vice President George H.W. Bush dropped in on a briefing at the Old Executive Office Building with Attorney General Ed Meese in tow. It was the same EOB office where President Richard Nixon had made his “infamous tape recordings,” The Statesman noted. The veep apologized that President Ronald Reagan wouldn’t be able to visit with the group because King Hussein of Jordan was in town. Heritage Foundation president Ed Fuelner praised Colorado’s role sparking the conservative revolution, including Joe Coors providing initial funding for Heritage in 1972. “The conservative movement was small and fragmented then,” Fuelner recalled. “There was very little positive thinking. Everything was reactive. The liberals were in charge of the agenda in Washington. All we could do was plug our fingers into the dyke.” On a tour of Supreme Court chambers, Chief Justice Warren Burger sat casually atop a table and chatted about the upcoming Bicentennial of the Constitution, set for the next year. Responding to a question from Statesman columnist Mort Marks, who asked whether the courts were usurping the legislative branch’s power, Burger stood firm. “I don’t get worried over criticism of the courts,” he said after detailing judicial involvement in a recent case involving prison conditions. “It’s a free society. You can’t do that in Russia.”

– ernest@coloradostatesman.com