Forty Years Ago This Week: Democratic Congressman Tim Wirth of the 2nd CD, in a column for The Colorado Statesman, wrote “Few activities of Congress are as emotionally trying as our attempts to persuade the government of the Soviet Union, through our letters and telegrams, to allow its Jewish citizens to emigrate freely.”

Wirth and a number of his congressional colleagues worked tirelessly for months to secure the right of Lev Roitburd to leave the Soviet Union. Roitburd first asked permission to emigrate to Israel in 1973 and was subsequently arrested on charges of “showing resistance to authorities” and interred in a hard labor camp in Siberia.

Wirth wrote that even after Roitburd was released from the camp he was still denied permission to emigrate, at that time the U.S. Congress became involved.

“In 1980 we began a campaign of letters and telegrams to Soviet leaders,” Wirth wrote, “including President Leonid Brezhnev and Ambassador to the United States Antaoly Dobrynin, urging the release of Roitburd in accordance with internationally recognized human rights.”

In early 1981 Roitburd was finally allowed to emigrate to Israel and in April visited Wirth in Washington, D.C.

“Before me stood a man — not quite knowing what to make of the whirlwind of his sudden release and his tumultuous reception in America — but obviously pleased by it,” Wirth wrote. “Lev showed me that the efforts of the Americans to secure basic human rights for our brethren in the Soviet Union need not be in vain — for this I owe him a great deal.”

Shortly after returning to Israel Roitburd wrote to Wirth, stating that, “There is no doubt in my mind that the tireless efforts undertaken by all of you … were crucial to bringing about my emigration.”

Roitburd reminded Wirth in his letter that many Soviet Jews were still trapped and fighting for their right to come to Israel.

“I ask you to continue your efforts and to help other Soviet Jews to gain their freedom,” Roitburd wrote.

Fifteen Years Ago: In two prepared statements Colorado Republican Party Chairman Bob Martinez called for an investigation into House Majority Leader Alice Madden, D-Boulder.

“Politically Correct,” a blog by former Rep. Bob Fairbank, published a story outlining Madden’s membership on the board of the University of Colorado Law School’s Energy and Environmental Security Initiative and her sponsorship of House Bill 06-1317.

Madden’s bill would send $316,000 from the state’s Severance Fund to the EESI to “fund the first year of the study compiling comprehensive statistics, data and policy neutral analysis about the state’s current and projected future energy resources.”

Martinez told The Colorado Statesman that it all sounded fairly innocuous on first glance but that Article V, Section 43 of the Colorado Constitution requires members of the Legislature with “personal or private interest” in a bill “shall disclose the fact to the house of which he is a members and shall not vote thereon.”

“I’m especially disturbed by the fact that she had not disclosed to the Secretary of State as she is obligated to by the Colorado Constitution,” Martinez said.

Madden confirmed that she resigned from the EESI board and denied any ethical lapses.

Secretary of State Spokeswoman Dana Williams said that the forms lawmakers must file with her office require them to list only “the membership on boards in which they had a financial interest or fiduciary responsibilities.”

“This is a good bill that would provide good energy information for the government, businesses and the public,” Madden said. “I wonder why some Republicans don’t want uncensored data on energy in the public’s hands.”

EESI Director Lakshman Guruswamy told The Colorado Statesman that he’d worked hard to bring big names to the initiative from all political backgrounds and sides of the energy divide but, “they are just ceremonial.”

“Rep. Madden’s decision to vote for a bill that benefited an organization she was so closely tied to without disclosing that relationship does a disservice to our open system of government,” Fairbank wrote.

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 Gazette.