Thirty Years Ago This Week: The Democratic Party’s nominee for Senate District 20, Ed Perlmutter, lambasted supporters of his opponent, Barry Arrington, for harassing his wife, Deana Perlmutter, seven-year-old daughter, and ten of his daughter’s friends.

“Three adults wearing Arrington buttons verbally abused the children, telling them Ed Perlmutter ‘murders’ babies,” Deana Perlmutter said. “They told the children they were ‘lucky to be alive.’”

Perlmutter claimed his older daughter and a friend had also been approached by Arrington supporters who told them that Perlmutter removed the brains of “nine-month-old fetuses for research purposes.”

“I’m shocked, but I’m not surprised at this behavior,” Perlmutter told The Colorado Statesman. “The one-issue concentration of the Republican radical right breeds extremist behavior.”

Arrington responded in an interview with reporters, stating he too was both shocked and outraged at the harassment of Perlmutter’s family.

“I am horrified by this incident,” Arrington said. “I don’t know those guys and they are not a part of my campaign. I have gotten to know Ed and Deana … while I disagree with them on most of the important issues, I think they are fine and honorable people … I am beside myself with anger that two anti-abortion fanatics who I don’t even know would take advantage of me and try to use my campaign to spew forth their hate and venom.”

Arrington reiterated to The Statesman that while he was pro-life, the issue was not central to his campaign because, as he saw it, the three greatest issues facing the state were education reform, property tax reform, and passing a ‘truth in sentencing act’ to ensure people convicted of crimes are incarcerated for the full term of their sentence.

Twenty Years Ago: A growing contingent of Colorado Republicans had grown so discontented with the state of their political party that they were planning on voting for Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, they told The Colorado Statesman.

Mary Lou Halliburton had organized a hefty group of politicians including former state Sens. John Donley, R-Greeley, Dottie Wham, R-Denver, and Al Meiklejohn, R-Arvada. The group also included former president of the Denver Chamber of Commerce Harry Lewis.

“Other names will soon be made public,” Halliburton said. “Most are voting for Kerry. We want the Republican Party to be more mainstream. We’re against a government going into debt, we’re for choice, we support stem-cell research, we don’t like the way the military is being treated — it’s just a mess.”

Halliburton said the group was a loose association of individuals and had already met with Kerry’s Colorado campaign organizers. She said the group hoped to form a network of Republicans who weren’t afraid of voicing contrary opinions, and that, although they were “still Republicans,” they would “not be supporting George W. Bush for president this year.”

Ten Years Ago: The conservative group Compass Colorado filed two complaints against both Democrat U.S. Sen. Mark Udall and state Rep. Chrisanta Duran, D-Denver, over a fundraiser for Duran’s 33rd birthday.

Compass Colorado alleged that Udall had violated Federal Election Commission rules by “urging partygoers to chip in funds” for Duran’s campaign and that Duran had broken state rules by letting corporations pay for some of the refreshments at the party.

“Rep. Duran is a leader in her party,” Compass Colorado Director Kelly Maher said, “she chairs the powerful Joint Budget Committee, and yet she still declines to follow our constitution.”

Udall campaign spokesman Chris Harris said that Compass Colorado did not understand the rules it claimed were violated and that the fundraiser was raising funds for both Duran and her PAC, Duran for Colorado Leadership Fund.

“Federal law explicitly allows for what Senator Udall did,” Harris said. “It doesn’t forbid raising money for non-federal candidates, just raising funds from prohibited sources, such as foreign donors.”

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.