Forty Years Ago This Week: In a fiery speech delivered to the Weld County Democratic Party, Colorado Democratic Party Chair Floyd Ciruli dubbed the Republican dominated state legislature the most anti-taxpayer and anti-consumer legislature in twenty years.

“The 1983 Colorado General Assembly raised more taxes than any other legislature in the last two decades,” Ciruli said. “We now have the highest sales taxes in the nation. Colorado is 14th in the nation in income taxes and, after another three-cent increase on July 1, we will be 17th hastiest on gasoline taxes.”

Ciruli told party members gathered in Ft. Lupton that the taxes were an indicator of inadequate planning and fiscal irresponsibility on the part of Republican Party leadership in both chambers.

“Senate President Ted Strickland, Senate Majority Leader Dan Noble, House Speaker Bev Bledsoe, and House Minority Leader Ron Strahle are responsible for this tax package, which clearly puts Colorado in the highest tax package in the country.”

What he found most galling, Ciruli added, was that after all of the tax increases the Republicans had still drastically underfunded education while shifting the burden onto the local taxpayer.

“The people in Colorado haven’t had a Democratic legislature in such a long time that they have forgotten what government for the people is supposed to be.”

Ciruli predicted that this heavy-handed policymaking would drive voters away from the “high-tax” and “anti-consumer” Republican Party.

Thirty Years Ago: A host of problems awaited Wellington Webb when he was elected Denver Mayor, not the least of which were several massive building projects the city did not know how to finance.

Two years into his first term as mayor, Webb told The Colorado Statesman he had not known the extent of the big challenges that were in store for him. Denver was indeed facing many significant issues, but, Webb claimed, it was the “personal stuff” that had been laid out publicly in the media that had been the real surprise.

Several media outlets had attacked Webb on issues ranging from problems with his staff to charges of favoring friends and relatives in contracts and assignments.

“I was startled by the intense press scrutiny, the high level of expectations from the minority community, the intense time demands,” Webb said. “We always lived very modestly, and we aren’t rich. We didn’t ever have people to do our stuff for us, and we are used to our own way of life. In order to retain a sense of reality there are some things that Wilma and I have continued to do.”

Those normal things included grocery shopping and chores around the house.

“People are always looking into my cart to see what I’m buying,” Webb laughed.

The Webb’s children were also under immense strain. Webb said that one of his son’s said he “felt like he’d lost his dad for a while.”

And while Webb managed to roll with the constant media attention and the high level of pressure from mounting issues across the city, he had not been able to comprehend the “attacks” some in the media had thrown toward his wife.

“I’ve been very disappointed in some of the personal attacks against Wilma, and what seems and attempt to redefine her in a way that’s not fair to her 12 years of public service,” Webb said.

He especially disliked a cartoon that had been published in Westword, depicting what would happen if Denver’s first lady was head of the Mint – the coin faces changed to Billie Holiday with heroin needles, Macolm X, “In Allah We Trust,” and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the 25-cent piece.

“It was racist – I don’t think it could be interpreted any other way,” Webb said. “These attacks, it’s ok for a woman to be strong and if you’re going to give the bad stuff give credit too.”

Rachael Wright is the author of the Captain Savva Mystery series. She has dual B.A. degrees in Political Science and History from Colorado Mesa University and is a contributing writer to Colorado Politics and The Gazette.