Forty Years Ago This Week: Candidate for Denver mayor Monte Pascoe announced that he had formed a campaign committee, “Women for Pascoe,” comprised of 60 women from all walks. His goal – to reach women from all walks of life and increase his supporters along with his campaign’s “effectiveness.”

“I am greatly encouraged by the level of support from women in my campaign,” Pascoe said. “Women are vital to the success of my campaign and will continue to play a key role in my administration.”

Pascoe said it was also his intention if elected mayor to form a women’s commission to study the city’s personnel policies, benefits and delivery of services to help ensure equal opportunities for women.

“City governments can set an example in opening up economic opportunities for women,” Pascoe told The Colorado Statesman. “Job classification provides a good example of why women continue to earn two-thirds of what men make.”

Pascoe referenced a study out of Colorado Springs that highlighted two city job classifications that were traditionally filled by a majority of one sex: “Maintenance/Construction Worker I” and “Secretary/Clerk II.” The clerk position, which required greater skills and more knowledge, paid $300 less per month.

“At least two-thirds of women work because they are the sole wage earner in their family or their husbands make less than $10,000 a year,” Pascoe said.

In 1983, over half of Denver’s families living in poverty were headed by single women who, before the loss of their husband due to death, divorce, or separation, hadn’t worked outside of the home, Pascoe added. Many were ill-prepared to enter the job market.

“Access to affordable day-care and job training are two areas the commission should examine, including related areas like support services for battered wives and children and programs to assist elderly women in living independently.”

“We must aggressively purse alternatives for women trapped in the cycle of poverty,” Pascoe said.

Thirty Years Ago: A long and bitter campaign to replace Carley Johnson as chair of the El Paso County Republican Party ended in victory for Bob Gardner against challenger Suzanne Brannon.

Gardner asked for “party unity” moving forward and spoke of his candidacy as bringing together different points of view, interests and factions of El Paso Republicans.

Gardner and Brannon both represented a new generation of leadership, both in in their 30s, and were relatively free of political baggage. But even as retiring Johnson endorsed Gardner, several Republican’s anonymously expressed themselves doubtful of Gardner’s credentials as he had only registered as a Republican in 1990.

When asked about her experience of the arduous two-week campaign, Brannon said, “I thought I was in the middle of a Mia Farrow and Woody Allen custody battle.”

Twenty Years Ago: Denver businessman and mayoral candidate John Hickenlooper debuted his economic development plan at Wynkoop Brewing Company with an emphasis on the urgency of strategic economic development efforts to lift Denver out of the current recession.

Hickenlooper also stressed the need to prepare for the ramifications of United Airlines being forced into Chapter 7 liquidation which he said would result in 7,000 to 8,000 direct jobs being lost, including high-paying positions. Hickenlooper said the indirect job loss would be up to 10 times that amount and would drastically affect the tourism and travel industries.

Calling for a summit with state and local leaders, Hickenlooper said it was imperative to identify the immediate and long-term impacts of the loss of United Airlines and how to continue to maintain DIA as an airline hub.

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.