Forty Years Ago This Week: Christmas in … June. Federal appointments – the Crown Jewels of political gifts – were raining down like a holiday season come early on Colorado Republicans, courtesy of the Reagan administration. Former Rep. John McElderry, R-Lakewood, was tapped to head the regional office of the Department of Health and Human Services and Denver School Board member Naomi Bradford – who had attempted to unseat Democratic U.S. Rep. Pat Schroeder in the prior year’s election – was appointed to the regional ACTION, a federal domestic volunteer agency, office. Meanwhile, former Gov. John Vandehoof was being mentioned as a candidate for the Synthetic Fuels Board.

The odds on former state Sen. Sam Zakhem’s rumored possible appointment as an assistant secretary for the Mideast was murky at best, but speculation continued. It was known that Zakhem had been lobbying the administration incredibly fervently. But when reached by reporters, Zakhem said he’d heard nothing about the appointment.

Zakhem assured The Colorado Statesman that he had the backing of several prominent Colorado Republican leaders; among them: Joe Coors, Sen. Bill Armstrong, Colorado Republican Party Chairman Bo Callaway and the entire Republican congressional delegation.

“Additionally,” Zakhem said, “all of my colleagues in the [state] Senate [Republicans] have signed a letter urging my appointment to the Mideast and sent it to Secretary of State General Alexander Haig.”

Holly Coors had mentioned to Statesman reporters that her husband, Joe, had travelled to Washington D.C. and met several times with President Regan and his wife, Nancy. Whether this was related to Zakhem’s lobbying efforts was unknown.

In other news, Colorado Senate Secretary Marge Rutenbeck was celebrating her birthday. The Senate chambers were decorated in a beautiful arrangement of balloons hanging from the ceiling in her honor.

In a moment of bipartisan comic relief, Sen. Dan Schaefer, R-Lakewood, unable to resist, took a paperclip, flipped it into the balloons and popped one.

Senate President Fred Anderson, R-Loveland, fined Schaefer for the destruction.

Twenty Years Ago: President George W. Bush nominated former Republican National Committee Chairman and Colorado developer Jim Nicholson, to a post at the Vatican.

Nicholson’s nomination to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Holy See was officially sent to the U.S. Senate for confirmation.

Meanwhile, after Gov. Bill Owens’s powerful, early start in fundraising for his reelection campaign, Rocky Mountain Gun Owners were boldly calling on their members to abandon Owens and U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo in their bids for reelection.

Both Owens and Tancredo had supported the SAFE Amendment 22 which sought to close the so-called “gun show loophole” in the previous election. RMGO had lobbied vehemently against SAFE.

“While some of these gun-grabbers might be reelected, they shouldn’t be doing it with the money of gun rights advocates,” said RMGO executive director Dudley Brown in an email to members.

“In some cases,” Brown wrote, “they are slightly more pro-gun than their prospective opponents in the Democratic Party. However, we believe the most important battle right now is within the Republican party, where gun rights advocates hold a large majority and where we’ve been successful in electing our people. If Bill Owens, widely known as a Republican who stabbed gun owners in the back, can ignore gun owners demands and still get their support, what message does that sent to every other marginal GOP politician?”

Brown finished the rousing letter with, “If you give a puppy a biscuit after he piddles on the carpet, expect the puppy to piddle on the carpet more often. Instead we suggest spanking the puppy.”

Sen. Mary Ellen Epps, R-Colorado Springs, had suffered a minor heart attack, but according to Cliff Dodge, Senate Minority Office Chief of Staff, the attack was not life threatening, “it was a warning shot across the bow.”

Dodge told The Colorado Statesman that Epps was recuperating at her daughter’s home.

“She should be back in the pink – and back to work work – in about a month,” Dodge said.

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.