Sixty Years Ago This Week: Rep. Elmer Johnson, D-Denver, lamented to the Denver Democratic Forum that his Republican colleagues had created a “first-class” state financial mess.

“I thought it would take two or three years to develop effective issues against the state administration,” Johnson said, “but they’ve done it for us in a single session.”

A Republican-backed income tax cut, according to Johnson, would leave the state with only $150 million to operate the general fund programs for the 1964-1965 fiscal year. Of this, a minimum of $4 million was necessary to maintain aid to public schools. The legislature had also set aside $7.5 million for capital construction through a 5% reserve plan.

Johnson said the only alternative left to make sure the state was able to fulfill its financial obligations was to spend the $10 million revolving fund, cut administrative funds by as much as 40% and slow down capital construction.

After paying all of the state’s obligations, “This leaves only $4 million in new funds for all other state programs. This is not enough to do the job in the face of Colorado’s growth,” Johnson said.

Johnson added that sales taxes were not as high in the first quarter of 1963 as had been predicted. meaning the state would be faced with heavy tax losses as a result.

“The state income tax cut will also result in continuing hardships for property taxpayers, whom Gov. John Love has said are bearing an oppressive burden. Republicans have rejected Democratic efforts to provide more state funds for counties in child welfare programs.”

Counties, Johnson said, financed 50% of the child welfare programs but he had sponsored legislation – killed by the majority – for the state to appropriate more funds so that counties would fund just 20% and the state 80%.

“In killing this measure they missed a major opportunity to provide relief for property tax payers,” Johnson said.

Forty Years Ago: Gloria Covlin, chairman of the Denver Republican Party, demanded the resignation of Dale Noffsinger as District 1 captain.

“If we can’t obtain a resignation, we’ll at least censure Noffsinger for violating the spirit of the party unity and party building,” Covlin said.

The controversy stemmed from Noffsinger mailing a letter to registered Republicans throughout District 1, asking them to support two Democrats in the upcoming municipal election: Denver Mayor Bill McNichols and Denver Councilman Bob Crider. Former state Sen. Sam Zakhem had co-signed the letter.

Noffsinger’s letter stated, “McNichols and Rider have records that are closely aligned with our Republican philosophy of government.”

Republican Dr. Dorothie Clarke was running against Crider and the party had, prior to the letter, adopted a resolution stating that district captains could not, in written form, endorse Democratic candidates.

“His letter was a deliberate affront to the many Republicans who asked for and voted for this method of building party unity,” Covlin wrote in a letter signed by 15 district captains and three Denver GOP officers.

“This is crazy,” Noffsinger said. “The letter was sent to Republicans personally and not from me as a district captain. Furthermore, from the reports I’ve heard, Clark has only been a registered Republican for a short while and I know nothing about her.”

Clark told The Colorado Statesman that she had been unaffiliated until a few months previously when she joined the Republican Party.

“The May 17th race is non-partisan anyway,” Clark said. “This could have been an oversight on Dale’s part. I met Noffsinger recently and he knew I was a Republican candidate. As for Sam Zakhem, he really might not have known I was a Republican candidate.”

Zakhem told The Statesman that he had no idea that there was a Republican in the race for the at-large seat.

“Dale wrote the letter and I trusted him,” Zakhem said. “Bob Crider is a good person and he’d done a good job and been very receptive to the needs of southwest Denver.”

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.