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

Forty Years Ago: It turned to be more than just a case of election time gossip that disappointment was rife among the ranks of Polly Baca-Barragan’s congressional campaign staffers.

“I’ve got bills to pay,” explained Baca-Barragan’s former press secretary Meyer Kadovitz.

Kadovitz left the campaign after his weekly paycheck failed to show up on time. “But I saw some of the other staffers getting theirs,” he said.

But Baca-Barragan’s deputy campaign manager Len Rose-Avila denied that any staffers were receiving checks. “Almost all of us are working on a volunteer status now. There’s a pretty big disparity between the two campaigns. Hank Brown has a lot more bucks than we do,” Avila said.

Avila left a $40,000 position with the Peace Corps to serve on Baca-Barragan’s campaign.

Kadovitz clarified that it wasn’t simply because his salary money had dried up that he left, but rather that he felt he was being pushed out of the campaign. He didn’t specify details as to why.

Thirty Years Ago: Republican gubernatorial candidate John Andrews called on Gov. Roy Romer to pardon Phillip Connaghan, a Colorado man who was sentenced to eight years probation, ordered to pay $2,500 in fines and pay an additional $7,000 in restitution for the shotgun booby-trap slaying of 19-year-old Michael McComb in his downtown warehouse.

Connaghan pleaded guilty to manslaughter and said he was deeply sorry for what happened and that “the booby trap was the wrong solution to a major problem.”

“Phillip Connaghan killed a criminal, but Phillip Connaghan is not a criminal, and he ought not to have a criminal record,” Andrews said. “The letter of the law has been satisfied by Connaghan’s sentence. Let Roy Romer now satisfy the spirit of the law by pardoning Phillip Connaghan.”

Andrews said that government was partially at fault for Connaghan’s crime, by failing to protect his property and livelihood after repeated break-ins. Burglars had struck eighth times in two years and Connaghan’s calls for police assistance became so frequent that detectives had him start mailing in lists of the stolen items.

According to court transcripts, Connaghan wired a double-barreled shotgun to a trip wire near a barred-window in the warehouse where burglars had entered before. Connaghan then placed a warning over the shutter saying: “Danger, Enter At Own Risk.”

McComb, 19, and two accomplices tried to forcibly enter the warehouse over the weekend on April 14, 1990. McComb died of his wounds.

Police and firefighters were among the strongest voices calling for Connaghan to be held accountable because of the dangers booby-traps pose to them. But in Connaghan’s final mail-it-yourself report, he had expressed his frustration, saying, “A funny thing about this is that the same burglar has broken in four times with losses of $10,000 and not one detective has called to examine evidence.”

… In lighter news: La Rae Orullian, CEO of Women’s Bank of North America in Denver and campaign treasurer for state Treasurer Gail Schoettler’s re-election campaign, returned from the 27th World Conference of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, held in Singapore.

The highlight of the conference was the readmission of the National Organization of Czechoslovakian Girl Guides, which had been banned when Communists assumed power after the fallout of the Second World War. Recent political shifts in Eastern Europe brought about a resurgence of lively interest in Girl Guides.

Girl Guides are a similar entity and served under the same umbrella organization as the Girl Scouts of America.

Orullian was first elected to the Girl Scout National Board in 1981 and served as both vice-president and chairman of the executive committee.

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.