Thirty Years Ago This Week: The Senate District 9 race between state Reps. Tom Ratterree, R-Colorado Springs and Charlie Duke, R-Colorado Springs, reached a fever pitch when Duke claimed to The Colorado Statesman that Ratterree had been ousted as state chairman of the American Legislative Exchange Council for “misappropriating” funds.

Anonymous persons in Colorado Springs were charging that Ratterree put money in his own campaign coffers that was intended for an ALEC healthcare conference and that ALEC was going to be subjected to an audit.

But Ratterree vehemently denied all of the rumors and hearsay and said that he was the one who had suggested that ALEC be audited.

At the core of the issue was that Ratterree had wanted sole responsibility for the healthcare conference because of “ALEC’s poor record of payment to legislators attending meetings, payment of conference bills, etc.”

Ratterree told The Statesman that there were lingering financial problems over a 1992 Annual ALEC meeting at The Broadmoor Hotel and that similar problems had arisen with the healthcare conference and he didn’t “want to put his personal integrity in jeopardy.”

“I was personally embarrassed by three different phone calls from Bill Hybl, executive director of the El Pomar Foundation and member of the financial board of the Broadmoor Hotel, because of non payment by ALEC,” Ratterree said. “My discussions with the ALEC staff led me to believe the debt would be settled in a timely manner. They were not. In speaking with other state ALEC chairs, they have the same problem. I was not about to suffer the same embarrassment.”

Ratterree attempted to speak at the Joint Board of Directors meeting in San Antonio and was denied the opportunity. He instead wrote a letter to the board expressing his fears that ALEC would face charges of fraud and breach of contract.

The ALEC board decided not to pursue the conference and replaced Ratterree as state chair with Rep. Dave Owen, R-Greeley.

As for any monies “misappropriated,” Ratterree said they were pledges for the conference and not checks.

Even with Duke’s direct allegation to reporters that Ratterree had misappropriated ALEC funds, Joyce Campbell, Duke’s campaign manager, was quick to attempt to distance the campaign from the claim. She said that she was “disappointed” that the rumors about Ratterree’s problems had spread.

“We don’t believe anyone directly on the campaign was responsible,” said Campbell. “We intend to take the high road.

Twenty Years Ago: In a shock to the political community, news broke that Independent candidate for House District 51 Joe Jabaily had been competing in a triathlon when he was struck by a car and killed.

A neurologist from Loveland, Jabaily was the former president of the Thompson School District Board of Education and the original commissioner of the Loveland Open Space Commission. Only two years prior he had ran for HD-51 and lost to Republican Tim Fritz by only 900 votes.

“He knew he was good at what he did,” said Pam Howard, Jabaily’s campaign manager and longtime friend. “His goal was to unite. That’s why he was unaffiliated. He wanted to work to get the political parties together. He was a problem solver.”

Howard said that Jabaily had planned to focus on healthcare solutions and education during the campaign.

“He wanted to work across the aisles and get things accomplished,” Howard said.

Sen. Steve Johnson, R-Fort Collins, who worked with Jabaily on health insurance issues and called the neurologist a friend said that, “Joe was always looking for common ground, for ways that people of different political perspectives could move forward together. Plus Joe was just plain fun to be around, which is why everyone liked him so much.”

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.