Forty Years Ago This Week: State Sen. Sam Zakhem, R-Denver, was overheard by numerous colleagues at the Republican Party state headquarters talking about how he never wanted to run for office again.

The Colorado Statesman contacted Zakhem to confirm the rumblings and ended up with an in-person interview. Zakhem explained that he had not intended to infer that he “would never run for another office” but merely that he had “no plans at this time to run for office.”

Zakhem added that if Gov. Dick Lamm decided not to run for a third term then he might run for governor.

“No one else has the statewide name recognition that Sam Zakhem does,” Zakhem said without blushing. “This is no baloney. People are telling me all over to run.”

But that wasn’t all. Zakhem dropped one tasty bit with reporters before leaving the Statesman office that a new “congressional district with an open seat just may be tailor made,” for him. As those congressional lines had yet to be drawn, much less finalized, Zakhem reiterated that he had no plans to run for office, with another emphasis on “at this time.”

Another Republican who had no plans to run for office “at this time” was Hal Krause, Republican state senate candidate Bo Callaway’s former finance chairman.

Krause’s name had been dropped as a possible congressional candidate in the new congressional district, which was rumored to encompass much of Jefferson County.

Krause said that his candidacy was still premature, and even though he’d discussed it with several people it was just “mere speculation.” He added that even though he was a resident of Morrison there was no telling which district he’d be in when the redistricting dust settled.

“I’ve seen enough plans to be confused,” Krause said. “But I won’t challenge a Republican incumbent.”

Krause was well know for his creation of a program to train precinct committee-people and as the head of Club 250, a group of Republicans who contributed $250 annually to the party and met several times a year to discuss politics.

Along with Zakhem, other names mentioned for the new congressional district were Jack Swigert, Dan Schaefer and Ben Loye.

While the name game for Colorado’s soon-to-be new congressional district played out, Secretary of State Mary Estill Buchanan announced that Secretary of the Interior James Watt would be traveling to Colorado in the coming weeks to attend a fundraiser for her.

But not 24 hours later, Watt’s scheduler, Kitty Smith, called Buchanan’s office and cancelled on behalf of the secretary.

Smith said that Watt would be unable to attend any fundraiser for Buchanan’s Senate campaign because of “too many other things in his schedule.” Smith added that there were no plans to reschedule the trip.

A seemingly confused Buchanan told the Colorado Statesman that she was surprised that the fundraiser had been cancelled as she “hadn’t been given the word.”

Watt’s hastily cancelled trip coincided, coincidentally, with the postponement of Eve Lincoln’s sentencing on two counts of embezzlement.

Lincoln, who’d worked for Mary Estill Buchanan’s U.S. Senate campaign, had pled guilty to embezzling more than $12,000 from the Central Bank of Cooperatives. Lincoln had worked for the Buchanan campaign through the conclusion of the Republican primary when she was dismissed.

According to William Graves, chief probation officer with the U.S. District Court in Denver, the sentence had been continued pending further medical evaluation.

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.