Thirty-Five Years Ago This Week: Robin Heid, a long-shot and eccentric, vocal Republican candidate for governor, was venting his frustration at reporters in response to an editorial published in in The Colorado Statesman.

“I didn’t call Roy Romer stupid,” Heid wrote. “The true gist of my advice to Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tea Schook: ‘Every time Roy says something stupid … call up the press and say something relevant and outrageous. Make sure it’s true, try to make it funny and keep it short. This makes it easier for the reporters to write their stories and that increases your odds of coverage.”

Heid denied that his advice to Schook was in any way “exploitive of the press.”

“I offered the advice to Tea Schook because I want to hear what she has to say,” Heid said, “and the only way I can do that is for her to get some press coverage and the only way to do that is to say things worth reporting and do it before the deadline.”

Heid also compared the US government to the German Nazi government during the antebellum period and the laws that had made it possible to strip the Jewish population of their civic rights.

“A government in need of an enemy found a perfect target: they were manageably-sized population with a different culture … The government just arbitrarily decreed the Jews to be enemies of the state and source of all that was wrong with Germany,” Heid wrote.

Not so different, Heid argued, than those who decide to use marijuana and cocaine rather than alcohol or tobacco. Federal attempts to seize and register militia weapons and the 1988 Anti-Drug Safety Act smacked of power consolidation according to Heid.

“That’s why drug testing is fundamentally Nazi in character,” Heid wrote. “It provides the means to impose tyranny by assuming guilt until innocence is proven, separating from the “master race” those it deems inferior according to arbitrary standards and destroying human dignity.”

Twenty-Five Years Ago: “What of our friends across the aisle?” Asked Colorado Republican Party Chairman Bob Beauprez. “They have obviously adopted the tactics of a party in trouble … they simply hurl invectives and call people names.” Beauprez was speaking to the press about the status and improving condition of the state’s GOP infrastructure.

According to Beauprez, the Republican Party in Colorado had gone from strength to strength. Over the course of 15 months the books had been balanced, grassroots teams were reinvigorated, and elected officials across the state were united in their commitment to “keeping Colorado special.”

“While our organizational and financial strength will certainly go a long way toward helping us succeed in November,” Beauprez said, “the real reason for our victory in 2000 will be the superiority of our vision and commitment to the families and small businesses of Colorado.”

Beauprez cited the fact that Gov. Bill Owens had fully funded education in each of the governor’s first two years, a feat which Gov. Roy Romer had only managed twice in his twelve years in office. The Republican Party had also worked toward improving infrastructure and put more money “back into your pockets to use as you, and your family see it.”

It was a far cry from what Beauprez saw as the Democratic Party’s “shrill political hyperbole.”

“Where our leadership is willing to tackle the difficult and controversial issues like education reform and youth violence,” Beauprez said, “their side would rather demagogue these issues for their own cheap political gain. And while our leadership seek opportunities to forge thoughtful bi-partisan coalitions, Colorado Democrats would rather whine about ‘one party government.’”

Rachael Wright is the author of several novels including The Twins of Strathnaver, with degrees in Political Science and History from Colorado Mesa University, and is a contributing writer to Colorado Politics, the Colorado Springs Gazette and the Denver Gazette.