Thirty-Five Years Ago This Week: Colorado Republican Party Chairman Bruce Benson put an end to months of speculation and admitted that he had in fact proffered at least $150,000 to entice Colorado Springs mayor Bob Issac into the governor’s race.

Benson had floated the financial number at a February meeting after Issac said he was interested in running for governor, but could not self-finance a campaign. Issac was widely considered to be the strongest candidate and the one most capable of unseating Democrat Gov. Roy Romer.

“We calculated what the race would cost without advertising, just staff,” Issac said. “The state GOP offered financial assistance for the staff. The rest of the money I would raise — if there was no primary. The estimate for staff may have been $25,000 a month.”

Issac never officially enter the race and made it clear in preliminary talks with the party that he could not afford a primary campaign. But not long after the talks, former U.S. Rep. Mike Strang, CD-3, entered the gubernatorial race and remained even after a group of Republican state legislators wrote him a letter urging to him to withdraw.

“We talked seriously about money with Issac. No one else was in the race,” Benson said.

This was not true. When reporters reminded Benson that Robin Heid had filed an announcement of candidacy in January, Benson said, “Yes, well … sometimes you have to do what you have to do.”

But, Benson said, there was nothing unethical about his dealings with Issac and he could not understand why the other candidates were “miffed” because they hadn’t ever asked him for money.

“No one is interested in this issue except people like you,” Benson told The Colorado Statesman, “who just want to sell newspapers.”

Not the case, Heid argued.

“Benson has committed crimes against his own party,” said Heid. “I haven’t asked him for money because he can’t offer me any. It’s against party rules. When I complained about the irregularities to state GOP executive director Larry Dye, I was told ‘take us to court.’”

Heid argued that Strang’s entry into the gubernatorial race “blew the lid off” the backroom dealings and that a small group of party insiders “who tried to cram Bob Issac down our throats are now cramming (former President Richard Nixon speech writer and founder of the independence institute) John Andrews down our throats.”

While Benson was making a deal with Issac to help finance a general election campaign, according to Strang, Benson was also making overtures too him.

“I didn’t make a decision right away,” Strang said. “Then, I was told by Larry Dye in mid-March that Issac would run and nobody else need apply for the job. He said it was a done deal.”

According to Strang; Benson, former state Sen. Steve Durham, R-Colorado Springs, and a small group of “political wizards” exercised almost total control over the state GOP and blamed them for the growing number of disillusioned and disgruntled party members.

“By threat and extortion they are getting supporters for John Andrews,” Strang said. “They don’t respect the party process. They respect force, power, threats and so forth. The same group who backed Issac’s potential candidacy are orchestrating Andrews’s campaign.”

In his conversation with The Statesman John Andrews said he understood why Benson and Issac had come to a financial understanding.

“Issac was the only game in town. Others had declined to run. The talent scouts had looked at 40 Republicans because Issac. I don’t know why they didn’t get around to me,” Andrews said. “I’m disappointed that anyone would take a conspiratorial attitude to this political process. John Andrews is his own man.”

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.