Forty Years Ago This Week: Rep. Jerry Kopel, D-Denver, and the Statutory Revision Committee were in the process of addressing what items were to be considered contraband to smuggle into a state penitentiary.

While it was a crime to smuggle contraband into the penitentiary, not everything that could be smuggled in would be considered contraband. Pliers, for instance, could be baked into a cake and delivered to a prisoner quite legally.

According to the Colorado Supreme Court, the “catch-all” section allowing prison administrators to establish by regulation what was and wasn’t contraband, was unconstitutional. Only the legislature could determine what items were a crime to smuggle in.

Kopel said that the Committee was busy trying to sift through items, like pliers, that posed a clear security threat but, technically, could still be baked into a cake and brought in.

In other news, former Reps. Don Friedman, R-Denver, and John Baer, Jr., D-Loma, spoke to The Colorado Statesman about the hectic drama-filled days of the 1971 reapportionment process.

“There were charges and counter charges and counter-counter charges and then vetoes. Lots of vetoes. And everyone was crying ‘gerrymander,’” Friedman said. “That’s what I remember most. The definition of gerrymandering was the other party’s redistricting plan.” 

Friedman was one of several members who drew the lines for Colorado’s 5th congressional district. 

“In 1971, it was designed to give the Republicans a four to one advantage,” said Baer. “But I don’t think we can see far enough into the future to draw lines that will favor one party over the other.”

Baer was referencing the plan to carve up former U.S. Rep. Wayne Aspinall’s district to create safe seats for incumbent Rep. Don Brotzman, R-Boulder, and the new 5th district congressman. 

“It didn’t work,” Baer Jr. said. “They took too many Republican votes from Brotzman and gave them to Bill Armstrong.”

Friedman agreed with Baer Jr. adding that, “You get much too concerned with personalities when you are there. The district that is unloseable for Tim Worth today is the one that Don Brotzman couldn’t lose.” 

The Statesman spoke with former Rep. Harold Koster, R-Salida, who’d also been knee deep in the politically charged redistricting, and queried him on whether the 1981 battles were less partisan than those of the ‘70s.

“No. But you know that, as a Republican, I have to say that the Democrats wouldn’t give an inch without getting an inch and a half,” Koster said. “It was a political scramble. We had meeting after meeting and of course everybody wanted to be on the winning side.”

Former Denver Republican Rep. Jean Bain said it was all “terribly difficult.” 

“We were closer together then,” Bain said. “We knew each other better. We didn’t have offices to divide us, and it hurt more to draw a line against your friend.”

Twenty Years Ago: “This is an important and historic election for the city of Denver,” said Denver Mayor Wellington Webb. “This is the first all-mail ballot election the City of Denver has ever held.”

There would be no early voting booths at grocery stores and no polling places open on election day. Mayor Webb encouraged Denver voters to educate themselves about the new process and the ballot issues. 

Webb and Denver Election Commissioners Jan Tyler and Rosemary Rodriquez provided information and instructions about the mail-in ballots. Tyler told The Colorado Statesman that the commissioners were hopeful mail-in ballots would make voting easier and increase turnout. 

“In Arapahoe and Jefferson counties, turnout had increased from 10-15% to between 40-80% after switching to mail-in ballots,” Tyler said.

Webb showed the press a sample ballot and emphasized the importance of filling it out correctly.

“We don’t want to be like Florida and not fill them out right,” he joked.

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.