Forty Years Ago This Week: Gov. Dick Lamm sent a five-page letter to the Department of the Air Force, reiterating his belief that Colorado should be included in public hearings on the environmental impacts of MX – “Missile, Experimental” – deployments.

“I urge that the study process be reconsidered,” Lamm wrote. “There should be full public hearings in Colorado prior to the issuance of a record of decision and a new revised draft environmental impact statement should be produced that comprehensively considers the effects of the proposed project in Colorado.”

Lamm directed the letter to Major Peter Walsh, director of the Environmental Planning Division at Norton Air Force Base. The Air Force had already conducted public hearings in both Wyoming and Nebraska. Lamm told The Colorado Statesman that it was only fair that Coloradans be allowed to hear for themselves the effects of MX missiles.

Lamm wrote that it was clear that “the borders of Colorado and Wyoming are unusual in that they do not follow ecological, geological or economic boundaries” and there should be an “opportunity for full public scrutiny and comment on the MX.”

Apparently unswayed by Lamm’s public calls, an Air Force spokesman said that hearings would only be held in those areas immediately affected by MX deployment and that no further hearings were anticipated.

According to a 1981 Federation of American Scientists report compiled at the request of the Technology Assessment Board, multiple protective shelters for MX missiles, which later became known as LGM-118 Peacekeeper intercontinental ballistic missiles deployed by the U.S. from 1985 to 2005, would have “considerably greater physical impacts than other basing modes … these impacts would be particularly severe and could include the long term loss of thousands of square miles of productive rangelands.”

Thirty Years Ago: Bob Palmer, Republican candidate for the 2nd Congressional District, was taking incumbent U.S. Rep. David Skaggs, D-CD2, to task for his vote on the campaign finance bill that had been passed by the U.S. House of Representatives.

The bill established voluntary spending limits (adjusted for inflation) of $600,000 for House campaigns, with exemptions for legal and fundraising costs, with $200,000 extra allowed for primary races and $200,000 in publicly financed vouchers for advertising.

Palmer had been vocal about the voluntary limit of $475,000 on his campaign spending and said he wouldn’t accept contributions from PACs, from people who didn’t live in Colorado full-time and would return any surplus campaign funds to contributors or donate it to charity.

“The House campaign ceiling is a fraud,” the Coors Brewing Co. employee said. “In 1992, the average winning U.S. House candidate spent less than $550,000. Instead of reducing campaign expenditures, the House-passed bill will escalate campaign expenditures to over $1 million.

Palmer also called the publicly-financed monies for advertising “inherently flawed” as the bill did not stipulate where the public funds would come from.

Fellow Republican candidates in the district chimed in, including former Clear Creek County GOP chair Sharon Klusman, who said that she really wanted Congress to put “stringent limitations” on the percentage PACs could contribute to campaigns.

“Basically,” Klusman said, “I’m disappointed in the measure.”

Westminster doctor Bernard Engel, who had not officially announced his candidacy for CD2, called the million-dollar limit “outrageous.”

“Multiply that by 435 members of the House and you’re talking about $435 million being spent every two years,” Engel said. “People with money are going to buy the elections.”

Although neither Engel or Klusman had set spending limits on their own campaigns, Engel said that he felt Palmer’s $475,000 limit an “enormous amount of money.”

“I would not be in favor of spending nearly that much,” Engel said. “But I have no problem accepting support from organizations which share my philosophies.”

Neither Skaggs nor state Rep. Michelle Lawrence, R-Arvada, who was also running for the CD2 seat, could be reached for comment.

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.