Twenty Years Ago this Week in The Colorado Statesman … Republican National Committee Chairman Jim Nicholson came under fire by an unlikely group of pro-life Republicans who compared his actions to those of Adolf Hitler.

Nicholson, who considered himself pro-life, came under attack in early May 1997 by the American Constitution Party, the Colorado affiliate of the U.S. Taxpayer Party, for reportedly agreeing to support pro-abortion candidates.

“He betrayed the confidence the pro-life Republicans had given him,” said a spokesman for the group. Nicholson, who had been discreet about his pro-life convictions, “showed Republican Party members that accommodating the Democratic standard of abortion is more important than personal values” the spox continued.

“There is no moral fortitude left in the Republican Party,”  said Tim Leonard, state chairman of Colorado’s American Constitution Party. “Jim’s agreement to help Christy Todd Whitman achieve the highest political office in the nation, after being publicly on record for seeing even partial-birth abortions legal, tells us much about the state of affairs in the Republican Party. How does this differ from Hitler’s Germany where prison guards, who personally opposed killing, just followed orders?”

Leslie Hanks, vice-chairman of the American Constitution Party commented, “Conservative Republicans are fooling themselves if they think their party can be converted to actually defending the lives of the unborn. Even Jim can’t follow his conscience.”

The remarks were delivered at a closed-door meeting of Republican state chairmen. Republican Party spokesman, Clifford D. May, said that Nicholson felt that the Christian Coalition’s remarks were inappropriate.

“Jim felt that that was going a little far,” May said. “What upset some people was the mentioning of people by name, like Christie Whitman.”

… Ten Years Ago … Bruce Benson, who had served as chairman of  the Board of Trustees for Metropolitan State College of Denver since its creation in 2002, was not reappointed in May, 2007.

A few Democratic state senators, allegedly upset by Benson’s partisan role as founder and funder of a Republican 527, known as Trailhead, threatened to remove Benson if his nomination landed on the Senate floor.

Benson, however, had a contingent of high-powered Democrats in the state who led the effort to try to convince Gov. Bill Ritter to reappoint Benson to another term on the board. Among Benson’s backers was Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper. But Ritter chose to appoint Antonio Esquibel instead. Esquibel was a professor emeritus at Metro State.

“I really have a great deal of respect for Bruce,” said Ritter. “Bruce is going to be involved in some things for me that are going to be helpful to this state … I value his involvement in education.”

Hickenlooper said he discussed Benson’s reappointment with Ritter, but added that he wouldn’t presume to second-guess any decision made by the governor.

“Bruce Benson is a great advocate for education,” former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb said. He pointed out that he had worked with Benson over the years on education committees.

“Some of us understand that you can separate party loyalty from other issues in a nonpartisan way and he’s done that,” Webb added.

Benson said he was disappointed about not being reappointed but he remained proud of his tenure on the board.

With Benson at the helm, the Metro Board had received millions of dollars in grant money and donations over the years. Benson was lauded as being a major influence in attracting those dollars to the school, which in 2007, boasted a student body of 22,000 and more than 15,000 full-time employees, making it the second-largest undergraduate institution in the state, after CU-Boulder.