Thirty-Five Years Ago This Week: Democratic National Committeeman Michael Muftic told The Colorado Statesman that he was the only Coloradan to be invited to U.S. Sen. Joe Biden’s, D-DE, presidential campaign announcement in Washington D.C.

Muftic saidthat he was practically the first Democrat in the nation to jump onto Biden’s campaign after Gary Hart withdrew from the race and that he was responsible for raising more than $5,000 for Biden in Colorado.

“I figure I’ll play some major role on the Biden campaign,” Muftic said.

Biden, who at 44 had already served 15 years in the Senate, was running poorly in the polls and was the fifth Democrat to announce his candidacy.

Muftic also told The Statesman that despite his previous substantial support for Hart, he’d heard nothing from the former presidential candidate.

“I just got that same letter like everyone else,” Muftic said. “I was never on any of his committees or campaign strategy sessions. I really don’t know why, I can’t explain it. I spent lots of money on Gary Hart’s campaign and helped out in a lot of places – I don’t know why I wasn’t included.”

In other news, the Democratic Party wasn’t alone in its internal discontentment. After a poor turnout in the 1984 election, Colorado Republican Party Chairman Bruce Benson said that there was a formal, as yet unnamed, GOP project in the works to increase grassroots participation and involvement.

“We’re going to try to figure out our Republican message, an agenda, a platform, so to speak,” said Benson.

Benson told The Statesman that out of 600,000 registered Republicans in Colorado only 400,000 had voted in the 1984 general election.

“The party needs to generate a message to inspire the remainder to get out and vote next time around,” Benson said.

Although the new project had been his idea, Benson said he was too busy to handle day-to-day operations and had largely handed over the running to Terry Considine.

Considine was joined by state House Majority Leader Chris Paulson, Sen. Jeff Wells, R-Colorado Springs, John Andrews from the Independence Institute and Barry Poulson from the University of Colorado.

“The idea is to rejuvenate our grassroots operation,” Benson said. “We can’t have our party run by five to twenty people at the top, nor can we have it run by 350 central committee members. The aim is to get out the Republican message to hundreds of thousands of people around the state.”

Considine, who discussed the position with political advisors before accepting, was Benson’s top pick, because he “is smart and has the time. Terry will be the guy on point.”

Elsewhere in Colorado’s political theater, Adams County Commissioners had just filed a lawsuit against longtime Republican Party activist Hal Shroyer, alleging that Shroyer had said that the county had no power to disseminate information, to spend public money or to advance “the official county point of view in matters of political concern.” He had also, “on numerous occasions, threatened the county commissioners … with lawsuits seeking to hold them personally liable for the expenditures of public monies…”

“They’re suing to call me a liar,” Shroyer told The Statesman. “But I’ll win.”

Commissioner Steve Cramer said, “I will not feed that egomaniac’s cause at any point and that’s what he’s trying to do. Every place Shroyer went he was going to sue us … our attorney finally said enough is enough. It’s the judges decision on the official fact that the county has the right to expend funds on matters it considers to be of official concern.”

“You don’t shut Hal Shroyer up,” Shroyer said. “The person who closes my mouth will be the undertaker -not a person in politics.”

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.