Thirty-Five Years Ago This Week: Two minority coalitions had banded together, Mort Marks said, under one name in order to affect real change in the Colorado Republican Party. What had been separate entities had now merged into the Colorado Black and Jewish Republican Alliance.

The new alliance was led by a 10-member steering committee, consisting of five members from the Black Coalition and five from the Jewish Coalition.

At a meeting at Marks’ home the discourse largely centered around the current state of the Colorado Republican Party and its failure to move beyond the historic racial makeup of the party.

“The party is all talk and little action, especially when it comes to outreach programs and minority involvement,” Marks said. “The current involvement is theoretical bull—. Nothing is happening with outreach programs, except lip service.”

One of the first established strategic goals of the Colorado Black and Jewish Republican Alliance was be to elect a Black Republican to the Denver City Council.

“And if there had been a little more support for Don Bain by Blacks,” Marks said, “he would have been mayor. We certainly want a say on who the next chairman, vice chairman and secretary of the state party are going to be. Minority groups are where the future of the party lies.”

Marks went on to call Colorado Republican Party chairman Bruce Benson a “horse’s a—.”

Then, Dr. Victor Wells, the first vice-chairman of the Colorado Black Republican Coalition said The Colorado Statesman’s reporting reeked “of misinformation and disattention on Mr. Mark’s part.”

And as for the name calling Marks engaged in toward Benson, “Our group received a very bad response from the state party. Now Bruce Benson thinks we’re all just a bunch of ingrates,” Wells said.

Wells clarified that Marks’s comment was his own opinion and that the Colorado Black and Jewish Republican Alliance “clearly doesn’t have those feelings about Bruce.”

It was clear to Wells however, that since the 1960s the party had all but given up on winning an election in Denver County.

“We want to promote Black and Jewish candidates through recruitment and interfacing with the state party,” Wells said. “It is very possible that the alliance will consider asking other minority groups to join.”

Twenty-Five Years Ago: State Sen. Bryan Sullivant, R-Breckenridge, announced that he would no longer be seeking reelection to his Senate District 13 seat, stating family considerations needed to take priority.

“I will serve the balance of my term but will not be a candidate for reelection in November,” Sullivant said in a statement provided to the Colorado Secretary of State’s office.

Sullivant said that he wanted to spend more time with his 11-year-old daughter and improve his economic situation. Sullivant’s listed occupation was as an Energy Conservation Engineer, but he was not employed during his tenure in the legislature.

But Sen. Mike Feeley, D-Lakewood, argued that there was more to Sullivant’s decision than met the eye.

“Bryan has made bad choices and has demonstrated a lack of personal responsibility,” Feeley said, in reference to campaign reports.

Sullivant’s reports showed higher than average expenditures which Sullivant maintained were campaign related and allowable under the state’s election laws. Sullivant had reported $5,261 for meals with volunteers, $2,411 in lodging associated with the campaign, $3,309 for telephone bills, $1,851 for repairs on a campaign vehicle and $1,989 for gas.

While the expenditures were high, Sullivant pointed out that he always paid for meals for his volunteers because they received no other compensation, and because his district encompassed parts of Boulder, Clear Creek, Gilpin, Jefferson and Summit counties, his travel expenses were correspondingly higher.

Despite the controversy, Gov. Bill Owens told The Statesman, “I will miss working with Sen. Sullivant, especially as the legislature tackles the important issues of growth in the 2001 session of the Colorado General Assembly.”

Editors Note: Sullivant passed away in what was ruled a tragic, accidental drowning in Dillon Reservoir at the age of 51 in 2006.

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.