Forty-Five Years Ago This Week: “I can honestly say that until now, we got along well with the governor’s office,” said House Minority Leader Federico Peña, D-Denver. “We visited frequently with the staff. And you didn’t see certain legislators speaking out publicly against the governor. We worked together harmoniously.”

Peña spoke to The Colorado Statesman after a long session marked by increasing inter-party turbulence. Peña’s frustration with Gov. Dick Lamm stemmed from Lamm’s changes to a bilingual bill, effectively replacing it with an English language proficiency tutorial program.

“All the work I’ve done to keep the party together is now in jeopardy,” Peña said. “I had anxiously looked forward to working with the governor on veto overrides in a cooperative spirit. Now that is in jeopardy as well. Senate Minority Leader Regis Groff (D-Denver) and I are very upset. I feel as if the rug has been pulled out from under us.”

But Peña also criticized GOP legislators and labeled their management of the session as “inefficient” and said that Senate Republicans had shown a “lack of consideration.”

Peña added that over the course of the legislative session, there was little discussion between House and Senate Republicans on congressional reapportionment, interim committees, or hazardous waste. 

“House Majority Leader Ron Strahle (R-Fort Collins) only recognized the importance of the latter issue at the end of the session, then was forced to scramble,” Peña said. “House Speaker Bev Bledsoe probably saw me as obstructionist, and this might have contributed to Bledsoe’s guarded feelings about me.”

Meanwhile, Bledsoe, R-Hugo, told The Colorado Statesman that he felt that “overall the session went smoothly,” and while the House and Senate had some difficulty agreeing on several issues, “that’s typical of government.”

Bledsoe said that the conflicting opinions reflected independent thinking and said that communication between the leadership of the two houses was good.

“Republicans didn’t loathe each other’s plans for reapportionment,” Bledsoe said. “I don’t know how Groff could be an adequate judge. He wasn’t involved with any reapportionment.”

Bledsoe also disagreed with Peña and Groff that the 1981 session was mean and reckless.

“It wasn’t that much different from any other session,” Bledsoe said. “We had 1,000 bills from 65 people. The session went fairly efficiently thanks to the lawmakers’ dedication. There really was not a breakdown in communications.”

Twenty Years Ago: According to Colorado AFL-CIO’s secretary/treasurer and political director, Ellen Golumbek, the labor organization was thrilled with an that appeared in the 5280 Magazine showing Gov. Bill Owens being given the reader’s choice award for Colorado’s “Top Political Slacker” and the “Top Politician Who Should Consider Early Retirement” award.

“Gov. Owens was recently on the Mike Rosen radio show whining, incorrectly as usual,” Golumbek said, “about the extraordinary amounts of money labor put into his opponent’s past campaign.”

Golumbek said that the figures Owens quoted were not only “inaccurate but illegal as well.” According to Golumbek, in 1998, Owens was elected under the “most restrictive campaign laws” ever faced.

“Bill’s recent letters soliciting contributions have also highlighted the effort of ‘Big Labor’ to elect someone else to the governor’s office,” Golumbek said. “Also, consequently, his need for even more money than the $1.5 million he’s already raised. At least the governor thinks we are good for something — even if it is his own fundraising — of course, he hasn’t hurt our fundraising efforts either.”

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.