Forty-five years ago this week: Kathy Oatis of the Colorado AFL-CIO’s Committee on Political Education said that organized labor had a negative image with the American voter.

“I don’t think the country is against us,” said Oatis. “I think the leaders of the country are, and they don’t support the things that we have traditionally supported throughout the years.”

Recently, the AFL-CIO had supported the Denver Firefighters, Local 858, during their election campaign for a 48-hour workweek and higher wages. Labor came out so strongly for Denver Firefighters that they spent nearly $80,000 on the campaign, while the city of Denver campaigned with considerably less. 

It was officials across U.S. cities and states who cut funding to social programs, and “they’re trying to put something in Congress where parochial schools and private schools would be funded. We’ve always supported public education.”

Oatis also said that historically organized labor had supported the Democratic Party but President Reagan had been able to pull surprisingly high numbers from blue-collar workers. 

“We’ve realized that we’ve got to make changes,” Oatis said. “When they say the mood of the country, they’re saying what they want people to perceive. And if they continually harp on that all the time, that’s what people perceive. That’s the mood, and that’s how they feel.”

According to Oatis, the Democratic Party needed to go through vital changes in leadership and re-evaluate their stance on key issues, “because they [Republicans] just really creamed us at a national level. Democrats must become positive about what they stand for and not try to be defensive about the past.

Republican Natalie Meyer disagreed and said that Reagan and other Republicans were able to gain the support of large portions of blue-collar workers because they were able to show that Democratic ideas not only didn’t work, but had been historically harmful.

“Republicans at all levels will continue to make their appeal to the rank and file of organized labor,” Meyer said.

However, Democrat Doug Wayland laughed off Meyer’s prediction that labor was leeching away to the Republican Party.

“The Democratic Party isn’t losing its grip on organized labor at the state level,” Wayland said. “And that line about winning the rank and file — that reminds me of what the Nixon Republicans said about the people of Vietnam, ‘we’re winning their hearts’ then came the Tet Offensive and they found out how much they had won. Anyone allied with labor will return to the Democratic fold, if they have strayed at all.”

Twenty-five years ago: President George W. Bush stopped in Colorado as a part of his “Heartland” tour.

Bush began the visit with a stop at Rocky Mountain National Park, where he helped clear trails and then had a BBQ lunch at a YMCA facility with 300 young campers. Bush then traveled down to Denver to attend a fundraiser to bolster the campaign coffers of U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard and Gov. Bill Owens, both of whom were up for reelection. 

Republican officials said that the President’s presence in the state confirmed Colorado’s importance as a key player in the 2002 election.

“There’s no finer governor in the United States than Bill Owens — and Jeb Bush isn’t all bad,” Bush said, to peals of laughter from the 1400 guests at the $1,000-a-plate dinner at the Denver Adam’s Mark Hotel. 

The dinner reportedly raised $1.5 million for Owen’s campaign, while the proceeds from the $25,000-per-person reception beforehand went to Allard.

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.