Twenty Years Ago This Week: Coloradans were left stunned after the release of a report, compiled by the American Lung Association, that documented in detail the political activities of the tobacco industry in Colorado dating back to the 1980s.

The authors of “Tobacco Industry Involvement in Colorado”, Anne Landman and Peter Bialick, said it was vital to understand how tobacco-related policies moved through Colorado’s legislative process.

Landman and Bialick issued their report following their one-year study of internal tobacco industry documents that were released after the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement.

According to Landman, the tobacco industry held a “siege mentality” in relation to smoking control practices and the passage of laws at the local and state levels.

The report unveiled internal an tobacco company document that boasted of the industry’s clout in the Colorado General Assembly and its ability to derail bills it didn’t like.

Out-of-state tobacco companies had spent “$2.08 million to oppose the 1990 tax measure,” according to the report, which would have increased the tax on cigarettes by 25 cents per pack. The companies had also legally challenged the title of the initiative and the validity of the signatures.

Another measure in 1992 would have raised the state’s cigarette tax by 35 cents, but with the lawsuit over the 1990 signatures ongoing, “the amount of time left to coordinate signature gathering before the election was short and the measure did not materialize,” Landman wrote.

Fast forward to 1994, the tobacco companies were again successful after they had spent more than $5.3 million to a oppose a 50 cent initiative and worked through “front groups” to “disguise its involvement in the initiative campaigns and hide its opposition to smoking restriction and tax measures by funneling opposition through more credible allies.”

“We are the second lowest state tax in the nation,” said Mike Melanson of Citizens for a Healthier Colorado. “I’ll be carefully reading Landman’s report. There’s information there that will be advantageous and that will help to prepare us for the tobacco industry’s dirty tactics.”

Melanson was optimistic about the chances of the 2004 initiative which would raise taxes on cigarettes by 64 cents.

“Both smokers and nonsmokers are supportive of the CHC’s goals of preventing tobacco use among children and creating new funding for healthcare,” Melanson said.

Ten Years Ago: After his vocal support of gun control measures in 2013, state Senate President John Morse, D-Colorado Springs, had become the first state lawmaker to be removed from office by special recall election, and was replaced by Sen. Bernie Herpin, R-Colorado Springs.

Former Rep. Mike Merrifield, D-Manitou Springs, was the Democratic Party’s pick to lead the effort to replace Herpin. The special election had a turnout of only 21% but Merrifield was confident that the general election would push much greater numbers of the party’s base to the polls.

Merrifield said his strategy was also to woo the district’s unaffiliated voters, which made up nearly 40% of the district’s registered voters.

“Michael is well known here,” said Christy Le Lait, executive director of the El Paso County Democratic Party. “That’s what’s really going to matter.

“Very few people were voting for Herpin,” said Morse. “We tried to tell people that even during the recall. Yes, you can toss me one session, but the laws stay on the books and the Democrats will come back in 2014. That’s exactly what will happen. I wasn’t making that up then, and I’m not making it up now.”

Sen. Minority Leader Bill Cadman, R-Colorado Springs, told The Colorado Statesman that, “Bernie Herpin is a great candidate, a great senator and he’s got a phenomenal reputation of public service in that community. So we’re increasingly excited about this opportunity.”

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 Colorado Springs Gazette.