Thirty-Five Years Ago This Week: Although Colorado Republican Party Chairman Bruce Benson had told one of his predecessors that he hadn’t yet made up his mind as to whether he’d run for a third term, party insiders had already begun to toss around names should Benson decide to bow out.

The top contender seemed to be former U.S. Rep. Mike Strang, who ran for governor in 1990. 

But Strang, who had been extremely vocal in his criticism of the current state party, told The Colorado Statesman that it was too early to decide on his candidacy, though he seemed to have at least a shell of his platform prepared.

“I’m concerned with a new agenda for the Colorado Republican Party,” Strang said. “I want to see more rank-and-file participation, a revamping of the executive committee, for instance.”

Strang argued that all Colorado Republicans should consider how much a “changing of the guard” would revitalize the party and that politics was forged by “people, not pocketbooks.”

“Bruce Benson is a very generous man personally,” Strang said. “But this crew in Denver has forgotten a lot. There’s been too much money spent on consultants. The GOP poured $183,000 into Gale Norton’s race for attorney general. I don’t think the money was what gave Norton her victory and nor should the party take credit for the win.”

One major reason for bringing new faces into party leadership, Strang argued, was the upcoming reapportionment and the 1992 U.S. Senate election.

“We need to bring more members into the decision-making,” Strang contended.

Another possible candidate was former state Sen. Jim Brandon, R-Akron, who said he would consider a candidacy only if Benson decided not to run.

Brandon admitted that he was not in the “same league” as Benson and couldn’t personally finance the state party, “I’m just a poor country boy.”

Brandon, like Strang, believed the state party needed reorganization and should first work to build a cohesive party before raising money for candidates and party headquarters.

Colorado Republican Party Vice-Chair Mary Dambman was also mentioned as a possible replacement.

“I’m still contemplating whether or not to run, but I won’t challenge Bruce if he decides to run again,” Dambman told reporters. “I have no reason to believe he won’t run again.”

One party member was an outspoken Benson supporter. Boulder County Republican Party Chair Denise Reeves said she was putting all her energy into persuading Benson to run again and had sharp words for those who criticized his leadership.

“If he doesn’t run again, we’ll probably be in such a state of tragedy that we’d lose every race,” Reeves said.

Twenty-Five Years Ago: Republican House District 1 candidate John Gonce wrote a strongly-worded letter to Secretary of State Donetta Davidson arguing that the HD 1 race had been subject to voter fraud.

Gonce alleged that someone in the Denver Election Commission told him it was he, and not incumbent Rep. Fran Coleman, D-Denver, who received 11,000 votes and Coleman who received 7,000.

“Yet,” Gonce said in his letter, “the DEC reported to the corrupted media just the reverse!”

Gonce told The Statesman that the name of the staff member at the Denver Election Commission “isn’t relevant” but that the election commission’s credibility was at fault because of earlier corruption when he ran for Denver City Council in 1999. Gonce believed that preferential treatment had been given to incumbent Ted Hackworth for the ballot position drawing.

Lynn Wolfe, executive director of the DEC, said that he didn’t know if someone from the office had mistakenly given Gonce the erroneous results or whether Gonce himself got them confused, but the results were clear. Wolfe certified the election results on Nov. 14, and Coleman received 11,656 votes to Gonce’s 7,370.

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 columnist to Colorado Politics, the Colorado Springs Gazette and the Denver Gazette.