Thirty-Five Years Ago This Week: Colorado Democratic Party Chairman Buie Seawell told The Colorado Statesman that he was unnerved by the media’s over-the-top glee in supporting the Republican’s candidate for Denver mayor, Don Bain.

Floyd Ciruli, a former chair of the state’s Democratic apparatus, echoed Seawell, arguing that “both newspapers [referring to the Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News] have become franchise operations of the Bain campaign, thereby not allowing the true issues to come out. The newspapers have also been guilty of putting too much emphasis on polls.”

“Those polls have been so grossly questionable,” Ciruli said. “The papers are now letting it become their front page, even allowing the reporters covering the race to be affected.”

One poll showed Bain garnering 42% of the vote to incumbent Denver Mayor Federico Peña’s mere 37%.

“The op-ed folks have just delighted in giving Federico a bad time,” Seawell said, and argued that Peña’s current predicament was similar to Gov. Dick Lamm’s first term in the 1970s.

“Just as Lamm deserved another shot at reelection,” Seawell added, “and ultimately went on to become a grand governor, I think Peña deserves another shot. I think he will be very strong.”

Steve Katzman, chair of the Denver Democrats, said that while the everyday issues facing Denver – like garbage collection and potholes – weren’t partisan, Bain had naturally gone after the Republican votes.

Katzman said that Peña was in a comfortable position, but that it was vital he harnessed the votes and support of the other Democratic candidates.

“There’s no way of really knowing how the Democrats will go,” Katzman said. “But I think when people start focusing on the issues and values, traditional Democrats will continue to support the mayor.”

Seawell said that “at least $5,000” had been contributed to Peña’s reelection campaign and Katzman was certain the Denver Democrats would follow suit.

One month later, Peña narrowly won reelection with 51% of the vote to corporate attorney Bain’s 49%. 

Twenty-Five Years Ago: On a whirlwind trip to Colorado, U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-RI, son of U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-MA, was the keynote speaker at the Adams County JFK Dinner. After touching on immigration issues at a Jefferson County Young Democrats luncheon, Kennedy told Adams County Democrats that many of the Immigration and Naturalization Service policies were racist.

Jefferson County Democratic Chairman Tim Knaus, who had organized Kennedy’s trip, said that the Rhode Island congressman had specifically called out the strong INS patrols at the Mexico/USA border while having no patrol at the border of Quebec and the United States.

“It seemed to him strong evidence of the racist foundation of American immigration policy,” Knaus said.

Adams County Democratic Chairman Dick Hodge said that Kennedy also questioned why sixth generation Hispanics in New Mexico had been frequently “green carded.”

“He said that even Native Americans were sometimes green-carded,” Hodge said. “Maybe we need to be a little less doggone elitist in this country.”

Hodge said he was impressed by the 29-year-old congressman but wondered what it would be like to have a name such as Kennedy, with so much history and expectations attached to it.

“I asked him, just before the dinner, ‘When do you get to be your own person?'” Hodge said. “He got distracted and didn’t answer me. After the dinner I said, ‘I think maybe you are your own person.’ Kennedy looked at me and said, ‘Thanks. Not everyone says that yet.”

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.