Forty Years Ago This Week: Republican Denver attorney Phil Klingsmith told The Colorado Statesman that he was discussing announcement dates with party officers to throw his hat in the ring against Democratic U.S. Rep. Ray Kogovsek of the 3rd Congressional District.

Klingsmith was seen by Statesman reporters in private discussions with both political director Kay Riddle and Colorado Republican Party chairman Bo Callaway.

“Phil knows that the state headquarters wants Rep. Bob Leon Kirscht, R-Pueblo, to run, but he won’t,” Callaway said. “If Kirscht does run, Phil has told us he’ll back him.”

Callaway said that other Republicans had expressed interested in the seat, including businessman Tom Wiens.

“But I’ve heard that Wiens isn’t going to run again,” Callaway said with a smile.

Four days after confirming his interest with The Statesman, Klingsmith abruptly said he was no longer interested in the race, telling reporters that he was “pressured into bowing out even before he officially got into the race. Something to do with name ID, I was told.”

Rep. James Robb’s, R-Grand Junction, name was also being bandied about, but Robb declined any interest in the seat.

The state GOP eventually settled on former Rep. Michael Strang, R-Carbondale, who ended up not facing an incumbent after Kogosvek announced his retirement. Strang was elected to the office in 1984.

Thirty Years Ago: Rep. Mary Ellen Epps, R-Colorado Springs, was back at the state Capitol after recovering from a badly performed throat operation that nearly claimed her life in 1992.

Epps was seen carting paperwork to a meeting with Senate President Tom Norton, and eagle-eyed reporters noted the paperwork seemed to be in regards to the American Legislative Exchange Council.

“I was really disappointed to miss the special session,” Epps said (referring to the special session called by Gov. Roy Romer to address the rash of youth violence plaguing the metro area), in a raspy voice. “That whole subject is right up my alley.”

Epps was the vice-chair of the House, Health, Education, Welfare and Institutions Committee and sat on Sen. Sally Hopper’s, R-Golden, Juvenile Justice Subcommittee of the Criminal Justice Commission.

Epps was chauffeured by her youngest daughter, Heather, to make sure her mother didn’t over-tax herself.

“I really want to thank everyone for all the cards and flowers they sent me,” Epps said. “It was very thoughtful, and I apologize for not keeping in better touch.”

Epps said that her health deteriorated so quickly that she wanted to keep her constituents informed but there wasn’t time.

Epps’s doctor later told Heather Epps, Mary Ellen’s daughter, that Epps’s sense of duty to those she served was quite strong.

“Here she was with about two hours to live being wheeled into the operating room and she said, ‘Somebody needs to tell the constituents, somebody call the press,'” Heather Epps said. “I thought she was delirious.”

In other news, state Sen. Mike Bird, R-Colorado Springs, announced that he was resigning from his seat on the Joint Budget Committee to devote more time to his (so far unofficial) run for governor.

Bird had sat on the General Assembly’s powerful Joint Budget Committee for six years, the last three of those as chairman.

“Following my official announcement of candidacy next month, I will be running as hard as I can for a partisan political office,” Bird said. “I do not want to disturb in any way the smooth bi-partisan cooperation that has always been a major characteristic of the Joint Budget Committee.”

As the JBC was primarily tasked with reviewing the governor’s preliminary budget, Bird felt that his candidacy would quickly become an issue within the committee, and he wanted the freedom to criticize Romer’s state financing policies on the campaign trail.

An economics professor at Colorado College, Bird’s philosophy was: “If you don’t have it, you can’t spend it.” He often criticized Romer’s policies as being “loaded with tax and spending increases that have to be rooted out by the JBC.”

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.