Forty Years Ago This Week: The Republican chairman of Colorado’s 1st Congressional District, Pepe Mendez, announced that he would be attempting a fresh approach to oust popular U.S. Rep. Pat Schroeder from her seat.

Instead of dredging for specific candidates, Mendez had decided to circulate an “essay-type” poll among “500 Denver Republicans, committee people, other Republican organizations,” which he called “the real grassroots of the party.”

Mendez said that the survey had been formulated to both help party leadership decide what type of candidate would be capable of beating Schroeder as well as involving “rank and file” Denver Republicans in the early stages of the 1984 congressional campaign. The questionnaire asked respondents about their perceptions of Schroeder’s assets and liabilities and for their take on the best way to defeat her.

“Usually committee people and activists have only enough time to get involved in one campaign,” Mendez said. “We want people to get involved for this one.”

Regardless of her six successful terms in office, with the right candidate, Schroeder could be beat, Mendez assured reporters.

“Everyone I talk to has an idea how to beat her,” Mendez said. “She does have some assets, but we can turn those around too. She is vulnerable.

But voter registration figures in Denver would be hard to overcome, a point that Mendez said he recognized.

“Especially after the recent mayoral campaign,” Mendez agreed.

Once the completed survey results were in hand, Mendez said he was hopeful that several candidates would present themselves.

“There’s a lot of talent in Denver,” he said. “We have some of the brightest Republicans in the state here.”

Rep. Jeanne Faatz, R-Denver, was one Republican who Mendez believed would make a strong challenger. She was the only Denver state representative to hold a committee chairmanship on the General Assembly’s House Transportation and Energy committee.

But Mendez thought Faatz would be a long-shot to get involved.

“I don’t think she’s interested right now,” Mendez said. “She has commitments to her daughter and the state legislature.”

Former Denver state Rep. Anne Burford, who was also a former administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, had also been mentioned as a top pick to take on Schroeder.

When asked directly about Burford, Mendez responded, “It’s an interesting possibility. She would be a very excellent candidate.”

But whatever the political rumor mill was churned out that day, Mendez stressed that the Republican candidate field was wide open.

“I hope we can go into next year’s 1st Congressional [District] convention with two or three strong candidates,” said Mendez, who then clarified that he wouldn’t be running himself as his law practice was busy and rewarding.

“But again Schroeder can be defeated,” Mendez reiterated.

“I’m not sure she’s even going to run again. Have you asked her lately?”

Schroeder, the senior female member serving in the U.S. House of Representatives, had told the media earlier in the year that she would run again as she’d built up seniority on committees and wanted to continue to serve her constituents back home.

Thirty Years Ago: Pope John Paul II made a historic visit to Denver to celebrate World Youth Day, conducting a mass at Cherry Creek State Park.

In gratitude of the pope’s visit, Denver Mayor Wellington Webb gifted the Vatican Library a New and Selected Poems from Colorado’s poet laureate Thomas Hornsby Ferril (1979-1988).

Three Colorado artists had taken part in the creation of the first-edition copy; calligrapher David Ashley, photographer William Boas and paper maker Raymond Tomasso. The book lay inside a specially constructed case that had also been built by Ashley and included a hand lettered poem and one of Boas’s photographs of Denver’s skyline.

The project was financed by Leland and Kathryn Davis, and the Western History Department of the Denver Public Library had also donated to the first edition book.

“I cannot think of a more appropriate and special gift for Pope John Paul II than this beautiful prepared presentation of Thomas Hornsby Ferril’s poetry,” Webb said.

The main floor of the Colorado State Capitol’s rotunda had long contained one of Ferril’s poems and paintings inspired by his work.

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