Forty Years Ago This Week: Twenty months out from Election Day, Aurora Democrat Bill Dugger told The Colorado Statesman that he was gearing up to run for the 6th Congressional District.

“I’m meeting with my campaign manager this weekend,” Dugger said, “to plot strategy, put together a campaign staff, set goals and formulate fundraisers. Some people might say it’s a little early, but when you’re running against an incumbent, now’s a good time to start.”

Rep.-elect Jack Swigert, a former astronaut, had been elected to the newly formed district in the previous November election, but died suddenly on December 27, 1982. Republican Dan Schaefer had been elected to finish Swigert’s term. The district was the safest GOP district outside of Colorado Springs at the time, consisting of parts of Adams, Arapahoe, Denver and Jefferson Counties.

Dugger said that he foresaw very few hurdles to earning his party’s nomination because his early start would guarantee that he’d be able to contact all the delegates at the 1984 Democratic Convention. Dugger had briefly run for the party’s nomination in January – during the special election process – and said that the delegates were already familiar with him and wouldn’t “go for [opponent] Steve Hogan again.”

But Dugger had run into some issues with Mary Alice Mandarich, executive director of the Colorado Democratic Party, and Ann Bormolini, former state chairman, over his position as the head of the Century Club’s fundraising organization. Dugger also said he didn’t “really know the feelings” of current chairman Floyd Ciruli and vice chairman Judy Henning.

“I would expect the party to support the choice of the delegates,” Dugger said.

Internal party politics aside, Dugger said he had focused on building a “middle of the road” platform and getting “out and meeting the people. Neither of the candidates in the special election excited the voters,” Dugger surmised. “We’re going to give our campaign a little excitement.”

Dugger told The Statesman that he didn’t think Schaefer, who was barely into his second week in office, would be able to spend a lot of time in Colorado.

“Too many congressmen go to Washington and just vote their consciences,” Dugger said. He added that if elected, and if such a conflict arose, he would vote for what his constituents wanted, not his own personal feelings.

Thirty Years Ago: State Rep. Daphne Greenwood, D-Colorado Springs, was forced to deny rumors that she had grown so disenchanted with the Democratic Party that she was considering switching parties to become a Republican.

“I didn’t say anything about joining the other party,” protested Greenwood. “A few Republicans were sniffing around this week to find out if I’d change parties. I’m not!”

Greenwood also addressed remarks floating around the Capitol that her voting record was more conservative than that of many of her Republican colleagues – including Rep. Marcy Morrison, R-Manitou Springs.

“The Republican off-the-cuff rating of my voting record is just too rosy in a conservative sense,” Greenwood said. “My record is more liberal than Morrison’s who has voted the Republican Party line on a lot of bills.”

Running tandem with the rumors of a party switch was a two-week feud between Greenwood and Rep. Vi June, D-Westminster, during the Democratic Caucus’s discussion of the state budget.

“It was heated,” Greenwood said, “but not to the level of trading insults.”

After choosing to abstain from the remainder of the Dems’ budget discussion, Greenwood spent three days in her office preparing alternative budget proposals for her party to consider.

“I felt the Democrats were really misguided by endorsing the JBC’s proposal to freeze state government employees’ salaries and not budgeting more money for higher education. I feel kind of personal about higher education because I’ve devoted my adult life to it,” Greenwood, a University of Colorado-Colorado Springs economics professor, said. “My efforts to discuss funding for education were shouted down in the caucus.”

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.