Forty-Five Years Ago This Week: “The Colorado House of Representatives had just given its final approval to  House Bill 81-1152, which created $9 million in tax relief to oil and gas companies. But this came “at the expense of local governments,” House Minority Leader Federico Peña, D-Denver, argued in an open letter to The Colorado Statesman.

Peña argued that the bill was designed to allow oil and gas corporations to reduce the assessed value of oil and gas properties by the amount of federal windfall profits they paid, and that the net effect would be a potential loss of $9 million in revenue to Colorado’s county governments.

“I feel it is crucial to bring this bill to the attention of taxpayers around the state whose county budgets will be impacted to the greatest degree,” Peña wrote. “Colorado is facing a $1.2 billion shortfall over the next decade for capital costs related directly to energy impact.”

It bordered on hypocrisy, Peña said, that while public concern about costs from energy development was running high, Republicans had decided to give oil and gas companies “a break.”

“County governments will need all the help they can muster to meet basic needs such as schools, housing, streets, water and sewer lines and public safety,” Peña wrote. “However, HB81-1152 may take $9 million from county coffers and give it to oil companies as a tax break. This bill is not fair, it is not right, and it is not in the public interest.”

Twenty Years Ago: Democratic candidate for Congressional District 7 Ed Perlmutter announced that the AFL-CIO had endorsed his candidacy. The AFL-CIO joined a long list of key labor organizations, like the Service Employees International Union, the United Food and Commercial Workers and the American Federation of State, County, Municipal Employees l.

“Ed’s track record on behalf of working men and women during his eight years in the legislature and his proven experience and leadership in the 7th CD community are among the many reasons that the Colorado AFL-CIO is proud to endorse Ed’s campaign to bring about change in Congress,” said Steve Adams, president of the Colorado AFL-CIO.

Perlmutter said he was proud to have earned the support of the AFL-CIO and said, “They share my belief that change is desperately needed in Washington, and their backing reflects the confidence their members have in my ability to win and deliver.”

But while labor unions had stepped behind Perlmutter, the board of directors of Be the Change USA announced that it would not endorse any of the three Democratic candidates running for CD 7.

Be the Change USA is a grassroots social welfare organization founded in 2004 that supports progressive candidates and also promotes the progressive principles: “compassion over greed, effort over pedigree, service over wealth, and the common good above all.”

The three Democratic candidates, Peggy Lamm, former state representative from Louisville; attorney Ed Perlmutter; and Herb Rubenstein, adjunct professor of entrepreneurship at Colorado State University, all completed oral and written questionnaires and submitted them to BTC.

In a statement from the BTC, “After conducting a systematic evaluation … the Be the Change USA board of directors has been unable to identify a clear favorite … and has decided to issue this Statement of Neutrality: Despite all the candidates’ good showing, the board has refrained from making an official endorsement.”

The statement called upon the candidates to work hard for the people of CD 7 and that “we look forward to mobilizing our grassroots members in support of the Democratic Party’s nominee for Colorado’s Congressional District 7.”

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.