Thirty Years Ago This Week: Days after surviving a drunk driver plowing head-on into her vehicle, state Sen. Linda Powers, D-Crested Butte, who was running for the third congressional district against incumbent Rep. Scott McInnis, R-Grand Junction, attempted to take the congressman to task for his recent vote on the “Crime Bill,” as it was being called on Capitol Hill.

“Scott McInnis has kowtowed to Republican Party leaders,” Powers argued. “His vote is against additional police officers, against stronger measures against domestic violence and against heavier prosecution of hate crimes.”

Powers argued that the Crime Bill, then making it’s way through Congress, pulled “no punches” in it’s management of crime in the United States.

“The Crime Bill is a tough bill,” Powers said. “Scott voted against it because he’s run by party bosses and special interest lobby groups. He once again showed his inability to act independently and to work across the aisle.”

During the 1993 special session of the Colorado General Assembly to address youth violence in the state, Powers said she only voted for the Youth Offender System after she was guaranteed that prevention and intervention measures would also be addressed during the 1994 legislative session.

“We can’t just continue to build prisons without also directing some resources to prevent crime,” Powers said. “We need to look to the future and work to strengthen our families and communities. We need to work on getting people to take more responsibility for their actions when they have run-ins with the law.”

In other news, Denver City Councilman Dave Doering floated an inspired idea to help make Denver Police Department’s Community Resource Officers’ jobs easier and more efficient: rolling out cell phones.

Cellular One Vice President Michael Sims had donated 14 phones and enough minutes for a 90-day trial period.

DPD Community Resources Officers received about 13 pager calls every day and often had to make use of civilian residents’ telephones.

“I want to thank Mike Sims … for making this donation,” Denver Mayor Wellington Webb said. “It enables the DPD to enhance its efforts to serve the community.”

Ten Years Ago: Igniting a campaign spat, Colorado Republican Party Executive Director David Wardrop announced to the media his interest in several “peculiar expenses” by state Rep. Liane McFadyen, D-Pueblo West.

“Mysterious expenses, combined with the very unusual practice of paying her own company from her campaign account, make it clear that Rep. McFadyen is fleecing the donors of her campaign through sleight of hand wizardry,” Waldrop said. “Why did she spend $1,250 on a sheep at the Fremont County 4-H Auction? It’s difficult to assess what a candidate for the state legislature would need with a farm animal.”

Wardrop also produced an expenditure report filed with the Secretary of State’s office that showed that over $4,000 had been paid from McFadyen’s campaign account to Alliance Business Strategies, and there was no history of the company previously consulting on either campaigns or political issues.

“It just so happens that Rep. McFadyen is the owner of Alliance Business Strategies … is this a convenient way to move money from her campaign account into her business account?” Wardrop pressed.

But Colorado Democratic Party Executive Director Julie DeWoody said she was furious at the new low the Republican Party had reached in their attacks against McFadyen.

“Not only do the Republicans have their facts wrong, but they’ve also shown a very basic misunderstanding of rural Colorado that shows why Democrats are making new inroads into Colorado,” DeWoody said. “They don’t have a clue how Southern Colorado’s culture works. Even Republican office holders in Southern Colorado financially support the local 4-H.”

DeWoody added that all the expenditures were for legitimate campaign expenses including the salary of McFadyen’s campaign manager.

“What is most disgusting to me is the needless attack on 4-H by the Republicans,” Colorado Democratic Party Secretary Dan Slater chimed in.

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.