Thirty Years Ago This Week: After the abrupt firing of his chief of staff, Venita Vinson, Denver Mayor Wellington Webb announced her replacement, Republican Denver City Councilwoman Stephanie Foote. Webb had fired Vinson a month after The Denver Post released a scathing investigative report that she had not filed tax returns for nine years.

Foote had formerly worked for Dome Petroleum and General Electric and sat on the committees of several organizations including the Clean Air Act Advisory Committee and the EPA Energy Pollution Prevention Subcommittee.

Foote, who said that she had been looking for a change from Denver City Council told The Colorado Statesman that she was incredibly pleased with her new position and would resign her council seat April 1.

“It gives me an opportunity to work for a man for whom I have a great deal of respect, and at the same time a city that I love,” Foote said.

At the news conference, Webb thanked Theresa Donohue, who had been filling in as acting chief of staff until Foote could take over.

In other news, newly elected Colorado Republican Party chairman Don Bain told The Colorado Statesman that he would use the inaugural event of a new GOP club, the Elephant Corral, to make his first public speech since being elected.

The Elephant Corral, according to Lincoln Club president Mort Marks, was highly original in the GOP and was set up deliberately to avoid the party’s proclivity to “rigidly structured organizations.”

“The Elephant Corral is a club with no officers, no dues and no by-laws,” Marks said. “All luncheons are open to the public; anyone who wants to consider alternative ideas for better government in Colorado – views different from those of Gov. [Roy] Romer and most other Democrats – should just call for a reservation and show up at the Denver Press Club.”

Twenty Years Ago: State Treasurer Mike Coffman criticized 6th Congressional District U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo’s statement urging men and women to enlist in the military as the war in Iraq escalated.

Coffman, who had enlisted in the U.S. Army at age 17, told The Colorado Statesman that he found it “hard to stomach” Tancredo’s statements after “he (Tancredo) got a mental deferment during Vietnam.”

Coffman served two years in the Army before attending college and then became a U.S. Marine Corps officer, serving in both the Gulf War and the Iraq War. As the son of a WWII veteran, Coffman said he also remembered personally witnessing casualties from the Vietnam War.

When made aware of Coffman’s cutting remark, Tancredo replied, “I was given a 1Y classification because I suffered from depression, a condition that afflicts millions of Americans today. I have the greatest respect for everyone who serves or has served this great nation.”

Tancredo further told The Statesman that he’d never attempted to hide the fact he was given a deferment or that he took medication for depression and panic attacks.

“I only hope that raising this issue doesn’t discourage people who suffer from this disease to seek treatment,” Tancredo said. “The fact that this issue causes certain individuals concern is something I cannot change … No one has the right to judge the sincerity or commitment I have for our troops.”

Tancredo said he was well aware that he was being targeted, potentially by Coffman, as Coffman had campaigned informally for the 6th CD seat in 2002, before finding his home was outside of the boundaries of the new district.

Tancredo was also facing backlash from his party after announcing the year previously that he’d rejected his earlier vow to serve only three terms in Congress.

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.