Twenty-five Years Ago this week in The Colorado Statesman … State Republican Party Chairman Bruce Benson warned about the looming redistricting and reapportionment fight in a “message from the chairman” that led the Republican half of the Statesman’s traditional upside-down double issue, printed when the Republicans and Democrats held their state assemblies the same weekend. The state GOP would need to raise funds to buy expensive computer hardware and software to deal with redrawing district lines later in 1991, plus pocket some cash in case of expensive court challenges, Benson said. Despite national demographic trends pointing toward decreasing political participation rates — “driven largely by a drastic increase in the number of families in which both spouses work outside the home” — Benson proposed that reorienting the GOP’s organizational network and finding creative ways to recruit activists could help keep the party stocked with volunteers. Republicans must also continue “outreach programs to broaden participation in party affairs among members of Colorado’s minority populations,” he wrote. “You and I both know that our work is cut out for us,” Benson concluded. “The stakes are so high.” …

… The “proverbial changing of the guard” at the state Democratic Party had already resulted in controversy and criticism, reporter Dan Grossman noted. Outgoing state Dem Chair Dick Freese was passing the torch to attorney Howard Gelt, a former staffer for Gov. Dick Lamm. When Gelt, who had been a leading fundraiser for Denver Mayor Federico Peña and Gov. Roy Romer, among others, met with Senate Democrats, they pulled no punches objecting to how party funds had been allocated in the recent election. Freese said an analysis indicated it was prudent to spend money on the Colorado House races because the Senate districts up for election “were largely Republican slam-dunk seats because of the way the Republicans controlled reapportionment of the legislative seats in 1980.” Freese heard the grumbling of Democrats in the upper chamber but urged Gelt to continue focusing on “winnable” seats. On another note, Grossman reported, Gelt wanted to “disprove the theory that Democrats are, in essense, anti-business,” saying, “Being a Democrat and being a businessman is not an oxymoron. I would like to dispel that myth.” …

… State Republicans not only hauled in three times as much as Colorado Democrats in the previous year, but they employed twice as many staff and spent nearly three times as much on payroll as the Democrats, an analysis of party finance reports revealed. The state GOP shelled out $20,000 a month, on average, paying 11 full-time and one part-time employee, something the party could well afford after raising $1.8 million in 1990. Democrats, on the other hand, “have been pretty frank about the fact that they’re in the hole financially,” reporting just $558,000 raised in 1990 with $114,000 in debt at the end of the year. The Democratic coffers were enough to support just five full-time employees and one part-timer. But things were looking up, said the Democrats’ communications director Carol Boigon, with roughly $60,000 anticipated from the upcoming annual Jefferson-Jackson dinner. Incoming state party chairman Howard Gelt predicted that the deficit, which included about $40,000 in bank loans, would be erased by late March. Other interesting tidbits from the reports: state Republican Party Chairman Bruce Benson donated $30,000 to the party in the previous year, and Democrats were paying more to rent their headquarters, doling out $2,000 a month for digs at East 17th Avenue and High Street, while Republicans spent $1,400 monthly for their offices at 13th and Tremont downtown. …

… Friends of former U.S. Sen. Bill Armstrong, led by Republican National Commiteeman Jim Nicholson and Committeewoman Kay Riddle, were throwing a party for roughly 1,000 of his close friends at the Colorado Convention Center to toast the Republican for 28 years of public service following his retirement from the Senate earlier in the year. All Armstrong requires is pizza and ice cream, perhaps with an enchilada thrown in, organizers joked, but there was likely to be a wider selection. Described as a “strongly principled but civilized and fun-loving conservative,” Armstrong told The Statesman his retirement priorities would be to “Praise the Lord, have some fun and make some money.” Speaking from his home in McLean, Virginia, Armstrong elaborated: “I’m doing a fair amount of speaking, mostly evangelism,” including appearances in Toledo, Atlanta and San Francisco. In a week, he was headed to a prayer breakfast in Hawaii where he’d be addressing 3,000 worshipers. As for making money, Armstrong, who used to own the Colorado Springs Sun newspaper and Denver radio stations KOSI and KEZW, said he’d bought into a mortgage loan firm. “If you know anyone who needs a home loan,” he cracked, “send them around.” He was also expanding his television station holdings in Pocatello and Twin Falls, Idaho, with a recently launched new station in Jackson, Wyoming. Friends should be able to find plenty to thank him for, including his prescient support for President Ronald Reagan’s “Star Wars” missile-defense system — ratified when Patriot anti-missile rockets shot down Iraqi Scud missiles in the Persian Gulf War. Armstrong insisted such defenses would be increasingly necessary as more small countries gained the ability to fire missiles at United States and its interests.

— ernest@coloradostatesman.com