Thirty Five Years Ago This Week: The Arapahoe County Republican Party gathered on Feb. 4 for its biannual meeting to elect new party officers, but the election was anything but straightforward after the race for county chairman ended in an exact tie, with 180 votes each going to Sue Thomas and Gary Tobey.

GOP attorney Dave Ebel and retiring Chairman Charley Emely called for a second vote to occur within three weeks. Adams County Republican Hal Shroyer also decided to wade in, saying that party bylaws stipulated that county elections had to be held between Feb. 1 to Feb. 15 and and election held after Feb. 15 would be declared invalid.

Arapahoe Republican activists said they’d assume that the chairman’s seat would be a close race, especially as the county party had been definitively split over the last few years.

“This will be a very close race,” Mort Marks opined.

“Tighter than hell,” replied Fred Lawrence, who supported Tobey.

As if an exact tie wasn’t enough, four ballots were contested. Former Rep. John Singer, an Aurora Republican who was a ballot observer, said one ballot was thrown out because it contained the name “Susan Tobey.” Another ballot was discarded because it was carried in after the official balloting had closed. The final two ballots were incorrectly put in the vice-chairman’s race box and were marked “Tobey.”

When confronted with the reality of more weeks of campaigning, Thomas chuckled.

“My family’s going to kill me,” he said. 

The county chairman’s race wasn’t the only point of contention at the time for Arapahoe County Republicans. The gossip mill was thick with speculation that Sen. Martha Ezzard, R-Englewood, would challenge fellow Republican Dan Schaefer for the 6th Congressional District – and as a Democrat.

“I’m not seriously considering running right now,” Ezzard said. “But I won’t rule it out. However, I will not seek another term in the legislature. I believe in turnover and I’ve been there long enough. I’m looking for new arenas and I want to devote more time to my law practice.”

Ezzard confirmed that she had engaged in conversations “of a philosophical nature” with Colorado Democratic Party Chairman Buie Seawell.

“He has expressed some feelings to me,” Ezzard explained. “He said he appreciated my stances, but he hasn’t exactly said come on over to the Democratic Party. It’s been more of an inquiry.”

Seawell told The Colorado Statesman that he would “like Martha to think about what party most reflects her views … and I’ve communicated that to her. But it’s important for Martha to remain politically viable, whether as a Democrat or a Republican.”

Seawell wouldn’t commit himself to an opinion on Ezzard challenging incumbent Shaefer in 1998.

“The Democrats of the district would have to make up their minds,” Seawell said. “I really don’t know if they would accept her as the nominee. But I do think she would make an excellent member of Congress. Martha Ezzard, as a woman, could beat Dan Schaefer – as either a Republican or a Democrat.”

Ezzard herself wouldn’t say more about a potential party switch.

“I don’t want to think or talk about it right now,” she said, “I’m holding out that the Republican Party will take a new direction, which may happen when Bruce Benson takes over as state party chairman in March … I’ll just go my way saying here are things I believe in: reasonable environmental concerns, equal rights and limited government. If the party moved away from that, I’ll face up to the fact that the party has left me.”

Fast forward to July 25, Ezzard resigned and changed her party affiliation to Democrat. She was replaced in office by Terry Considine.

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.