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

Forty Years Ago This Week: The gossip mill was running rampant after an anonymous caller phoned in a conspiracy theory to The Colorado Statesman, stating that a secret plot was underway to draw Denver Democratic activist Arnie Zaler back into politics through the quiet resignation of an incumbent elected official – a conspiracy that official flatly denied.

Zaler was a well-known, outspoken anti-Vietnam War activist and pro-Zionist in the Denver community, and was also known as a “fast-talker.”

The caller told The Statesman that he had it on good authority that Denver City Councilman Kenneth MacIntosh, who defeated Zaler in 1979, was going to resign shortly after the November elections. Zaler, the caller assured, would then declare his candidacy quietly for the seat to prevent others from running in a special January election, all but sealing his position on the Council.

As anyone versed in the Denver political scene could imagine, the conspiracy theory didn’t take long to reach MacIntosh’s office in the microcosm that is Denver politics.

“The city councilman is not planning on resigning,” an aide assured The Statesman. “He never had the intention to resign.”

Zaler, a former executive director of the Colorado Zionist Federation, was later indicted in federal court in 2009 on four counts of fraud. Zaler was sentenced to 15 years in a federal penitentiary, followed by five years of parole and was ordered to pay restitution totaling $2.5 million to investors in his hot-dog selling business, which turned out to be a scam.

Thirty Years Ago: Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Robin Heid announced his pick for his lieutenant governor running mate, Doc Ross. And the pick made tongues wag throughout political circles as Ross’s CV made the rounds.

Ross was the lead guitarist with the Boulder-based heavy metal band Enemy Ace, he held a degree in electronics engineering, was a fourth-degree black belt in taekwondo and was a registered bounty-hunter.

Heid made full use of Ross’ variety of talents as he urged Coloradans to vote for him and Ross as write-in candidates.

“If you’re up to your eyeballs in Republican-Democrat, fill-in-the-blank, tired of voting for fat-cat rich people who don’t care about you and want some election rock-n-roll, then we are your men,” Heid told Colorado Statesman reporters.

Heid and Ross’s platform placed heavy emphasis on preserving the U.S. and Colorado constitutions, ending the war on drugs, cutting taxes and “keeping government off the backs of the little guy and out of the hip pocket of the big guys.”

“If the election judges tell you there is no write-in slot or in any way try and discourage you from casting a write-in ballot,” Heid said, “raise hell until they do their job.”

In other news, firings were now on the table as Republican Boulder County Sheriff Candidate Cherry Emerson laid out her plans if she managed to triumph over her opponent, Boulder Sheriff’s Department Captain George Epp.

Emerson said she was sick of Epp’s alleged “good ol’ boy” system of running the Boulder County Sheriff’s Department and had laid out plans on how to manage a massive restructure.

Emerson said she had gone a step further, writing a letter to all of the department’s employees, telling them who she would fire if elected. She said she would ask for the resignation of between ten and six employees rather than a wholesale firing like the one former Sheriff Brad Leach enacted when he took office in 1970.

Emerson’s firings would include an undersheriff, a captain and a lieutenant. In addition, she would “privately discuss” George Epp’s future with the department.

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.