Forty Years Ago This Week: Wellington Webb announced the results of a poll he personally commissioned comprised of 309 questionnaires, telling reporters that “…the race is wide open,” referring to the Denver mayoral campaign. Webb had not yet formally announced his candidacy for the office at the time of announcing the poll.

Webb, who had also represented Denver’s House District 8 in the state legislature for five years and was at the time of his candidacy serving as executive director of the state Department of Regulatory Agencies, said that the results showed several other important facts regarding the mayoral race.

“The degree and percent of Denver voters who are looking for a change from the present administration of Mayor Bill McNichols,” is high, Webb said.

Webb claimed that while McNichols had a 99% name recognition, only 6.2% of respondents gave him a very positive rating and 88.3% thought “it was time for a change.”

Webb came in third in name recognition with 49%, according to the poll, behind McNichols and Denver District Attorney Dale Tooley, who had been a candidate for the post twice before and had already announced that he was resigning as DA to run for mayor.

Most importantly, Webb told the assembled members of the press at his news conference, was that “… 66% of those polled had no clear preference for a candidate at this time.”

“I would be surprised if Mayor McNichols runs,” Webb said, “and if he does, he will be defeated. The mayor’s polling probably shows him the same thing. If the mayor runs, he will be running uphill. My gut instinct is that he’s going to have a very difficult time. But I’ve not been told by anyone that the mayor is not going to run. It’s a hunch.”

When asked by the press why he had no formal campaign at the time and why he was waiting to announce his candidacy, Webb said that the poll was the first part of his decision, and he was sticking to his earlier intentions of making a formal announcement by Feb. 24.

“If I had found that I was a distant fifth, I wouldn’t have put my family through the campaign,” Webb said. “The decision now will be based on the amount of money I can raise during the rest of January.”

The fundraising efforts had been satisfactory, but Webb said that he expected it to increase with the release of the poll results.

“We made every effort to be scientific,” Webb said. “The respondents have a history of voting.”

Thirty Years Ago: The 59th Colorado General Assembly began with frayed tempers and back-footed legislators as House Democrats vehemently objected to House Republicans’ desire that state Rep. Drew Clark be seated as the official representative for Boulder’s House District 13.

The election was disputed by Democratic write-in candidate Peggy Lamm, who was within a hair’s breadth of unseating Clark by a razor thin vote margin, even though she had not been on the ballot as only a write-in candidate.

Lamm had filed suit in Boulder District Court and with the Colorado Supreme Court alleging that some of her write-in votes had been improperly ruled invalid by the Boulder County Clerk and Recorder’s office. Both courts had issued stays following the lawsuit, which prevented the clerk from certifying the election results.

House Republicans convened a credentials committee to research the matter and recommended, by a party line vote, that Clark be seated. House Majority Leader, Tim Foster, R-Grand Junction, who chaired the committee told The Colorado Statesman that because of a state Constitutional provision and the principle of separation of powers, the House had final say about who it seated, not the courts.

Lamm said that she had not decided whether to take her case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“The process so far has been very …wearing,” Lamm said. “To take it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, though I think we would win it, would be very exhausting. I have to think it over very carefully.”

In addition, a Larimer County Republican Party vacancy committee had not been successful in selecting a representative for House District 51, which had been left vacant after state Rep. John Irwin, R-Windsor, had died suddenly of a heart attack the month prior.

As a result, only 63 legislators took their seats in the House Chambers at the start of the legislative session.

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.